Whakaari owners and tour operators face Court on 2019 White Island fatalities charges

After more than two years of legal process, a group of defendants are today facing the Auckland District Court at the start of what is expected to be a lengthy trial on charges related to the Whakaari/White Island disaster of December 2019.

22 visitors to the Island were killed when the volcano erupted in 2019, as a result of which Worksafe NZ has brought a series of criminal charges relating to the breaching of workplace safety laws against multiple parties.

The trial is expected to see the explanation of the factors that led up to eruption and the series of events that placed a group of tourists on an active volcano.

The defendants include brothers Andrew, James and Peter Buttle - the owners of the island - and Whakaari Management Limited (WML), the company they are directors, who, according to Worksafe NZ, "failed to obtain expert advice on how WML could ensure that guided tours of Whakaari were conducted safely".

The Buttle brothers and WML are proceeding to trial, as are the defendants ID Tours New Zealand and Tauranga Tourism Services.

Parties charged in Worksafe NZ case:

1. Andrew Buttle 
2. James Buttle 
3. Peter Buttle 
4. Whakaari Management Limited
5. ID Tours New Zealand 
6. Tauranga Tourism Services 
7. Inflite Charters (pleaded guilty) 
8. Volcanic Air Safaris Limited (pleaded guilty)
9. Aerius Limited (pleaded guilty)
10. Kahu NZ Limited (pleaded guilty)
11. White Island Tours (pleaded guilty)
12. GNS Science (pleaded guilty)
13. National Emergency Management Agency (charge dismissed)

Worksafe NZ has sought to prosecute 13 parties, including research institute and volcano monitor GNS Science, the New Zealand Emergency Management Agency and a number of tourism operators.

The charges were laid at the end of 2020 and initially every defendant entered a plea of not guilty, but since then several have changed their plea and one had the charges dismissed.

On Friday afternoon, in the final hearing before the trial was set to begin, three more defendants entered guilty pleas.

The role of the supply chain between tour operator and customer will be another major part of this case.

Because ID Tours New Zealand worked as a booking agent, helping cruise ship passengers to visit Whakaari, and Tauranga Tourism Services was the local agent for tour company White Island Tours.

Judge Evangelos Thomas wrote in an earlier finding “the evidence provided by WorkSafe is that it has become common in the tourism industry to have single entities operating as part of a single chain from point of sale to delivery of adventure activities

"Although that is likely due to practical operational reasons, it runs counter to the Act's purpose that a consequence would be less protection."

ID Tours New Zealand, the Buttles and their company WML all sought to have charges against them dropped, but their applications were denied.

On 9th December 2019, 47 visitors were on the island when the volcano moved beyond its level 2 warning and into a full-scale eruption.

A Coronial inquiry into the deaths is ongoing. However, final death certificates for those who died will not be issued until the Worksafe NZ matter is resolved.

White Island Tours pleaded guilty last week, with WorkSafe Chief Executive Phil Parkes saying that decision was highly significant.

Parkes advised “we hope the decision of White Island Tours will provide some assurance to the survivors and family and whānau (Māori for extended family or community of related families who live together, Ed.) of those who passed that those who had a duty to ensure their safety and failed to do so are being held to account.”

Images: Tourists on White Island in April 2019 (top, Wikimedia commons/Kimberley Collins) and a woman photographs White Island just moments after it erupted on 9th December 2019 (below, Twitter: Michael Schade).