Two Chinese citizens injured in New Zealand volcanic eruption

WELLINGTON－Two Chinese citizens were among 47 people on New Zealand's White Island when a volcano erupted on Monday, New Zealand police said on Tuesday. Their names haven't yet been released.

They are among the 34 rescued and are now being treated in separate hospitals, according to the Chinese embassy in New Zealand.

The embassy has sent consular officials to visit them. An official said that an emergency response team had been activated.

Most of the 47 people were tourists. Besides the two Chinese citizens, there were 24 from Australia, nine from the United States, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, two from the United Kingdom and one from Malaysia, police said.

Five people died at the time of the blast or soon after, while a sixth person died on Tuesday night at an Auckland hospital. Eight others remain missing on the island and are presumed dead, according to New Zealand police.

One of the six dead is New Zealand tourist guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, police said. The nationalities and names of the other victims have not yet been released.

Three of those rescued have been discharged after treatment at hospitals.

But New Zealand Ministry of Health spokesman Pete Watson said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that it is possible that not all of those still being treated will survive. Twenty-seven of them are suffering from severe burns, he said. Only a few are not in critical condition.

New Zealand officials said on Tuesday they were working with scientists to determine when it would be safe to return to the island to search for the eight missing people.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said "no signs of life have been seen at any point" after helicopters and aircraft undertook reconnaissance flights over the island, which is 48 kilometers east of the North Island.

Shane Cronin, a University of Auckland professor of earth sciences who studies volcano-tectonic interactions and instability, told local media that White Island's is one of several in New Zealand likely to produce sudden explosive eruptions at any time. It last erupted in 2016, but no one was injured.

"In this case, magma is shallow, and the heat and gases affect surface and ground water to form vigorous hydrothermal systems," Cronin said.