Many are also said to be missing.

At least one person has been killed, and many injured, following a volcano eruption in New Zealand. According to RTE, twenty-three people were rescued from White Island, where the volcano erupted just after 2pm local time (1am this morning Irish time). Tourist, Michael Schade, was on the Island just before the eruption took place, and has documented the experience on Twitter. He wrote: "My god, White Island volcano in New Zealand erupted today for first time since 2001. My family and I had gotten off it 20 minutes before, were waiting at our boat about to leave when we saw it. Boat ride home tending to people our boat rescued was indescribable."

Checked photo timestamps. Last photo from me standing on the land was 13:49; this first photo of the eruption was 14:12, about a minute or two into the eruption. pic.twitter.com/hyqQuO4vNq

— Michael Schade (@sch) December 9, 2019

He also included a number of pictures of the volcano, where a heavy plume of smoke can be seen. Michael continued to share updates via Twitter, writing: "Those are some of the people put boat picked up. Praying for them and their recovery. Woman my mom tended to was in critical condition but seemed strong by the end. The helicopters on the island looked destroyed." "This is so hard to believe. Our whole tour group were literally standing at the edge of the main crater not 30 minutes before. My thoughts with the families of those currently unaccounted for, the people recovering now, and especially the rescue workers…" Photos courtesy of Michael Schade.