The eruption seen from a tourist boat. (File photo) Photo: Supplied / Lillani Hopkins
The coronial inquiry into the 2019 Whakaari/White Island tragedy has heard the emotional impact the disaster had on first responders.
Police officer Sergeant Russell Owen, was at times close to tears as he recollected the events of 9 December 2019, where 22 people died and 25 others were injured.
He said he hoped the inquiry provided lessons for emergency services to learn from.
"It was very chaotic day, I don't think I've ever been involved in something with so much emotion attached to it.
"My role was to provide some structure and relief for that operation, and I did the best I could. I strive to make sure I'm better, should something like this happen next time with my learning and knowledge."
Owen said he believed first responders did the best they could.
"I want to acknowledge the tragedy and loss for families and impact on first responders.
"For me personally, a little piece of me still lives out there... I live with it everyday and probably will for rest of my life," he said.
The coronial inquiry was hearing evidence around the emergency response to the 2019 disaster.
The counsel assisting the bereaved families and the survivors of the tragedy told Coroner Marcus Elliott questions remained over why help didn't arrive sooner for victims.
Coroner Marcu Elliott pictured on the first day of the inquest. (File photo) Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
It's proposed by the counsel assisting the bereaved families and the survivors, there was a two-hour window following the eruption at 2.11pm, which would have been crucial for survivors to get medical treatment and increase their chances of survival.
The inquest was told 39 people were rescued from the island on the day of the eruption, entirely by civilian boats and helicopters.
The last rescue that led to any survival was a civilian helicopter, which left the island 90 minutes after the eruption and arrived to medical care about half an hour later.
Owen had been the call search and rescue coordinator that day.
He said he was unaware that little more than an hour after the eruption, a fixed-wing aircraft had gathered information that there were people still on the island that potentially required assistance.
The officer said during these moments he did not have enough information to task search and rescue helicopters, which were on standby, to potentially look for survivors.
But, he said if he did have information about causalities remaining on Whakaari/White island, it would have been sufficient to deploy or make a tasking based on that.
"It would have been their call. I wouldn't have insisted they (rescue helicopters) go, but I would have asked them to go and have a look at it."
The first time Owen tasked a helicopter to be sent to the island was at 3.38pm, this was for a winching operation for a survivor from a tour boat.
But the interception was never made as the boat was already heading towards paramedics in Whakatāne. The deployed helicopter was turned back.
This was within the two hour window following the eruption counsel for bereaved families and survivors said could have made a difference to survivability.
At 4.45pm, the Major Operations Centre (MOC) in Wellington made a "no-go" decision for all first responders.
It's been revealed that decision was not communicated at the time to the EOC, who subsequently made the same unanimous order 40 minutes later.
Owen did not have any input in these decisions.
It's been established, that Civil Defence was considered the lead agency during the emergency response, but police would be the lead agency in the search and rescue operation.
Examples of "double handling" and key information not being communicated between agencies in the crucial first hours after the eruption had been highlighted.
Other communications related problems included the lack of a police radio at The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Whakatāne which also dealt with cellphone reception and wifi internet connectivity issues.
Owen said communication was always an issue in these scenarios.
"When you go through multiple parties and you're relaying through some of our systems, especially if it's voice to voice and not a written communication, you're always going to get at some level some miscommunication or some misunderstanding.
"The easiest way realistically to avoid it is to have the right people in the room with you. When you're talking about multiple agencies, the best thing to do is have representatives of those agencies with you so that their own people are talking to their people and you have that single point of coordination, which is that group."
Owen said he was largely operating by himself, separate to the EOC.
He said on the day, having a second officer to assist with recording keeping and coordination would have been helpful, but it wasn't logistically possible considering staff resourcing to deal with other unrelated police call outs.
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