Pilot says he escaped serious injury by jumping into the ocean when a New Zealand volcano erupted

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A helicopter pilot says he and two of his passengers escaped serious injury by jumping into the ocean when a New Zealand volcano erupted in 2019, killing 22. Another two of pilot Brian Depauw’s joy flight passengers did not make it to the water, were engulfed by a cloud of hot ash from the White Island eruption, and suffered serious burns. Belgian-born Depauw testified at the Auckland District Court on Thursday in the trial of three tourism companies and three directors charged with safety breaches over the Dec. 9 disaster. Depauw and his four passengers were among 47 people on White Island, the tip of an undersea volcano also known by its Indigenous Maori name, Whakaari, when superheated gases erupted.