More White Island deaths

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AFP) — Intensifying fears of another eruption frustrated efforts to recover bodies from New Zealand’s White Island on Thursday as the official death toll from the volcano disaster rose to eight.

Police said two people died in hospital overnight, taking the confirmed number of fatalities to eight, with the bodies of another eight people believed to be on the island.

Many more victims of Monday’s explosion are battling to survive after suffering horrific burns at the popular tourist attraction, which police said was still too dangerous to land on.

“Police remain focused on supporting families at this terrible time,” they said in a statement.

Health officials said that 23 survivors were being treated in New Zealand, 17 of them listed as critical, and another five had been transferred to Australia.

Sydney high school Knox Grammar named the latest fatalities as brothers Matthew and Berend Hollander, saying their deaths were a “devastating loss for our community.”

It said the boys’ parents, Barbara and Martin Hollander, were currently unaccounted for.