Photo: RNZ / Natalie Akoorie. Retrieved from rnz.co.nz
About 200 people have gathered in Whakatāne to mark the fifth anniversary of the Whakaari White Island eruption, which killed 22 people.
Affected families, iwi, police, and firefighters attended a dawn karakia.
It was held beside Te Hau Tutua Park, where those gathered can see the island.
Among them was Lillani Hopkins, who had just boarded the boat back to Whakatāne with her father when the eruption happened.
She told First Up fear set in along with the realisation others were still on the island as the ash cloud rolled towards the sea.
The boat sped round the ash cloud and headed to the bay where they had docked, and she and her father began giving help.
For years she had little recollection of the couple of hours they spent treating and triaging people.
“It’s only been in last couple of years meeting with the survivors and the people that we treated have I been able to piece together most of the things that have happened – because they remembered me doing things or me saying things or me sitting with them.”