A family in Australia has been left heartbroken after it was confirmed that the mother and daughter were two of the victims in Monday’s volcanic eruption on White Island.
Julie Richards and her daughter Jessica were traveling with the Ovation of the Seas cruise line when they were involved in the eruption that tragically claimed their lives, Perth News Nowreports.
John Mickel, a spokesperson for the Richards family, confirmed the sad newsduring a press conferenceon Wednesday, explaining that Julie, 47, and Jessica, 20, had departed for New Zealand last Monday and were expected home this coming weekend.
“For this family, [the festive season] will be one of deep poignancy,” Mickel said. “You live in hope that it’s not going to be your loved one’s name that comes up. … The hope was snuffed out this morning.”
“The family today, of course, are united in grief,” he added, noting that the Brisbane mother and daughter were both “outdoor adventurist people” who loved sports. “If there was an adventure, then they would be the ones to do it.”
In the wake of the eruption, Julie and Jessica’s relatives told theAustralian Broadcasting Corporationthey had been frantically searching for the pair, calling hospitals, the cruise line, New Zealand police and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for any information.
Unfortunately, just a few days later, loved ones learned the worst about the mother and her daughter, who was studying veterinary technology at the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus, according to Mickel.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also sent her condolences to the Richards family, whom she said she knew personally.
“It’s with deep sadness we learn of the deaths of Julie and Jessica Richards in the New Zealand volcano tragedy,”she wrote in a tweet.“I know members of the family. I know how much Julie and Jessica are loved and how terribly devastating their loss is.”
“I offer my profound condolences to everyone going through what this family is going through. I also offer my admiration to rescuers and the Brisbane medical teams comforting the injured,” she added.
While the Richards family copes with the unimaginable loss, another Australian family is remaining hopeful that their loved ones will return alive.
The Langford family has already found a small sense of solace after 19-year-old Jesse Langford, who was initially deemed missing, recently turned up in a New Zealand hospital, his grandfathertold7 News.
Jesse was vacationing with his father Anthony, mother Kristine, and his 17-year-old sister Winona when the volcano erupted. At this time, the rest of the family remains unaccounted for.
“We don’t know anything at all,” Anthony’s brother Rodney Langford said. “But I’m hoping that somebody knows anything, has seen my brother, knows my brother or has seen his wife or their kids.”
New Zealand Police confirmedon Thursday morning local time that the death toll from the White Island eruption had risen from six to eight people. The most recent victims were being treated at Middlemore Hospital and Waikato Hospital when they died, police said.
The fatal blast occurred on Monday, just after 2 p.m. while 47 travelers — who were from the United States, Australia, China, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom — were on the island,policesaid.
Thirty-eight of the tourists were traveling on Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, theNew Zealand Heraldreported.
On Wednesday, Dr. Peter Watson, chief medical officer of Counties Manukau Health, said at apress conferencethat there are 29 patients currently being treated in intensive care and burn units at four different hospitals throughout New Zealand. Twenty-four of the burn patients remain in critical condition.
Doctors in New Zealand are currentlyawaiting nearly 1,300 square feet of skin from the United Statesin order to treat the victims. Skin grafts come from people who are registered to donate skin after their deaths, and typically are taken from the donors’ backs or the backs of their legs,CNNreported.
New Zealand volcano.AUCKLAND RESCUE HELICOPTER TRUST/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
In the meantime, police said that a “significant operation” has begun to try to identify the deceased and return them to their loved ones.
Police alsoissued a listof nine missing people who remain unaccounted for, including seven Australians and two people from New Zealand.
source: people.com
