"} 60:{"position":6,"content":"

"Police (are) working urgently to confirm the exact number of those who have died..." their statement said, adding that a ship would approach the island at first light on Tuesday to further "assess the environment."

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Many day tours visit the island regularly. One from a 16-deck cruise liner, Ovation of the Seas, was there at the time.

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"Both New Zealanders and overseas tourists are believed to (have been) involved, and a number were from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship," the police statement said.

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St. John Ambulance said up to 20 people were believed to have been injured in the eruption, adding that a mobile triage unit was on its way.

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Several people with burn injuries were brought by helicopter to Whakatane, the nearest town on the mainland.

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"I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who had loved ones on or around the island at the time. I can assure them that police are doing everything they can," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference after landing in Whakatane late on Monday.

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Ardern was expected to give an update on the situation at a news conference set for 7 a.m. on Tuesday (1800 GMT on Monday).

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"DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN"

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Michael Schade, an engineering manager from San Francisco, was one of the tourists who made it off the island just before the eruption.

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"This is so hard to believe," Schade said in a video posted on Twitter as he sped away from the island by boat. "Our whole tour group were literally standing at the edge of the main crater not 30 minutes before."

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A crater rim camera own

More than two dozen people feared missing after NZ volcanic eruption kills 5