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Whakaari/White Island

Whakaari/White Island is an active marine volcano that has attracted visitors from around the world for decades. To Māori and local Iwi (tribe) Ngāti Awa, Whakaari is a treasured ancestor and features in many stories and legends of the region. Glimpses from the shore and in the air offer breath-taking views of this geothermal wonder.

Estimated to be between 150,000 and 200,000 years old, the volcano is located 49 kilometres offshore from Whakatāne. It is two kilometres in diameter and its peak rises 321m above sea level.

The tragic eruption event that occurred at Whakaari / White Island on Monday, 9 December 2019 significantly impacted many people, both in Aotearoa and internationally. We acknowledge the families and loved ones of those who passed away, and send strength to the injured and their families during their recovery. As a result of the eruption event, there are currently no on-land tours of the island in operation. 

You can still experience the unforgettable sights of Whakaari/White Islands, including scenic flights, on-land (not the island) lookout points and in the Whakaari/White Island Experience Room at the isite Visitor Information Centre.

White Island Flights

For a truly unforgettable experience, join the White Island Flights team for one of their great value White Island scenic flights.

Whakaari Experience Room

The Whakaari/White Island Experience room provides a stunning up-close and informative experience of this geothermal wonder.

Remarkable visibility, underwater steam vents and an abundance of marine life make the waters around the island one of New Zealand’s best dive sites. It’s also a fishing haven, with charter boats offering multi-day game fishing adventures.

Lookout points

There are several lookout points in the Eastern Bay of Plenty that provide views across the ocean to Whakaari/White Island. On a clear day you can see steam clouds puffing from the crater at The Whakatāne Heads, Kōhī Point or any spot along the coastline.

If you have any questions about your visit to the Whakatāne District, please contact our isite Visitor Information Centre team .

Want to know more about Whakaari / White Island, visit the GeoNet website's frequently asked questions page .

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How to See Volcanic Whakaari/White Island in New Zealand

W hakaari, or White Island, is a volcanic island in the Bay of Plenty off the east coast of New Zealand’s beach-covered North Island . It’s the most active volcano in New Zealand and one of the most studied volcanoes in the world. Whakaari has been active for at least 150,000 years, with frequent eruptions throughout its history. Whakaari has had several deadly eruptions over the past 200 years, including an eruption in December 2019 that killed 22 people.

If you’ve watched the recently released Netflix documentary The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari , you know that it’s not  a place to underestimate.

Because of this, Whakaari/White Island is currently closed to tourists , but you can still do scenic flights over the island. So here’s what to know about scenic flights over Whakaari/White island, plus what to know when or if it opens for hiking tours once again.

Where is Whakaari?

Whakaari/White Island tours

Tauranga, New Zealand. Photo: Tauranga /Shutterstock

Whakaari/White Island tours typically leave from Whakatane (a four-hour drive from Auckland) or Tauranga (about three hours from Auckland). Whakatane is the closest mainland town to Whakaari and is the most popular departure point for organized tours.

When exploring the island on foot is allowed, you can book trips from several area tour companies, some of which offered the opportunity to camp on the island (and may again whenever it reopens).

When the island is closed to foot traffic, seeing the island from air is the only option. But that’s no problem, since seeing it from air may give you the best perspective of the uniquer island (and save you from smelling some seriously strong sulfur). White Island Flights offers scenic flights over Whakaari, offering stunning views of the iconic landscape from up high. Hour-long tours start at $249 NZD, or about $159 US.

What will you see at Whakaari?

Photo: Jeff C. Photostock /Shutterstock

Whakaari/White Island offers some truly unique experiences for its visitors. Aside from the active volcano itself, there is a variety of geographical features including hot springs, fumaroles, craters and steam vents where one can observe the active processes of Whakaari. Fortunately, it’s easy to see all of these from the air.

Whakaari also has its own unique fauna and flora, with several species that are endemic to the island. The extreme environment has led to some unique evolutionary adaptations, and species you’ll see there include the Whakaari skink, Whakaari gecko, and Whakaari cicada.

Is Whakaari safe?

Whakaari/White Island is an active volcano, and as such visitors must take extra safety precautions. All trips to Whakaari should be organized through reputable companies that have experience dealing with volcanic activity and know the risks associated with it. It is also important to check in advance if there have been any recent eruptions or seismic activity. When the island is closed to foot traffic, never try to charter your own boat. Planes and helicopters can make quick getaways if they notice any unpredictable seismic activity; hikers can’t. Be smart.

Whakaari eruptions

Photo: Jet 67 /Shutterstock

Whakaari has had several explosive eruptions over its long history, producing pyroclastic flows and ash plumes that have the potential to disrupt air travel in the region. Whakaari is monitored 24/7 by GeoNet, a government agency tasked with monitoring volcanic activity in New Zealand. The most recent major eruption occurred on December 9th 2019, and Whakaari has also had several smaller eruptions since then, including one as recently as March 2021. Scientists continue to monitor Whakaari’s activity and will close foot traffic to the island during periods of extended activity (which is the case as of December 2022).

When will Whakaari/White Island reopen?

Photo: Photo Image /Shutterstock

Whakaari remains closed to visitors as of January 2023. The question of when it will reopen is a difficult one and is still uncertain. Whakaari needs to be assessed for the short-term impact of the eruption and potential long-term effects on its geology and environment before any informed decision can be made.

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White Island – New Zealand

White Island New Zealand feels like a place from another time, even another world. See the tour that we took of this alien landscape and learn how to do it.

If you have never spent the holiday season in the Southern hemisphere then you are missing out! While a white Christmas and cold New Year’s are fantastic, but, there is something magical about swimming in the ocean and exploring offshore islands, especially on New Year’s Eve! On this day we made our way to White Island in New Zealand.

Make sure you check our homepage for other holiday destinations in New Zealand and all across the world.

Our Experience (Photo Essay and Story)

On our trip to White Island, our inner 6 year-old finally had his day, as this absolutely magical place looks like it could easily house dinosaurs, pirates, and even the occasional wide-eyed tourist.

When we were kids, volcanoes were one of the most fascinating things in the universe, right up there with dinosaurs, and both were conveniently found in the same places – lonely islands in the middle of the ocean, covered in mists and bone chilling roars.

White Island or Whakaari is an active andesite stratovolcano, situated in the Bay of Plenty, 48 km off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. And when we say active, we mean very active – it is the most active cone volcano in all of New Zealand, a land known for its volcanic activity. The full Māori name for the island is “Te Puia o Whakaari”, or “The Dramatic Volcano”, so all this activity is nothing new. White Island always had a big personality.

To get to White Island, the easiest way is by boat from Whakatane (ok, the actual easiest way is by helicopter, but we’re guessing most of our readers aren’t the helicoptering kind), where a charter service offers guided tours to the island. If you’d like to sail to the volcano yourself, that’s probably a no-no, as the island is privately owned and only the tour operators have been granted permission to visit.

The trip to the island took about one and a half hours one way. We found it fun that the waters were a bit choppy, but some of the other visitors didn’t find their sea legs too well and we had a few pale faces gripping the railings.

Despite this bit of gastric turmoil, midway, something magical happened – the boat was suddenly followed by a pod of about 20 dolphins, including a few baby dolphins. They put on an incredible show with lots of leaping and amazing feats of speed and agility and followed us for a good fifteen minutes.

The closer we got to the island, and the larger the cloud of smoke over that rock jutting out of the ocean, the clearer it became that we were really going to visit an active volcano. That feeling got even more intense when the guides handed us gas masks before we arrived. This was serious.

Compared to your more well known, lava spewing volcanoes, White Island doesn’t gurgle any liquid rock, instead it ejects bits of scoria, a porous andesite rock that covers the island. And it has sulfur, lots of it. There even used to be a sulphur mine on the island, but it fell into oblivion as an eruption  claimed the lives of 10 miners in 1914, who disappeared without a trace. It soon became too expensive in both money and lives to mine on White Island. But the sulphur remains, and it’s the reason for the gas masks. The air on the island isn’t actually toxic, it can just be very irritating, especially if someone has asthma or other respiratory conditions.  

The landscape of the island is nothing if not completely otherworldly. It’s a vista of grey andesite rock, bright yellow sulphur vents with white, billowing clouds of steam rising above them, and eerily clear boiling streams. In the middle of it all is the caldera lake, with its enticing light turquoise water and plumes of steam coming off the surface. If you didn’t hear the guide mention the -0.5 PH, you could easily mistake it for nature’s Jacuzzi. With one little caveat – this hot tub can melt your bones.

The island, though apparently not friendly to life, is nonetheless populated. On a flat part of the island, away from the crater, a lush green hillside is the breeding ground for over 3000 Australasian gannets, which gives the Island the title of Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. We could see the colony very well as we splashed around in the water next to the island, a welcome cool-down after our trip to New Zealand’s equivalent of Hades.

The ruins of the old sulphur mining operation are the last spectacular remnants of the human occupation of the island, and they’ve been claimed by the corrosive fumes. The steel parts of the buildings have been turned into what looks like rust coloured wet phonebooks, just layers upon layers of corrosion, all the way through.

How to Visit White Island New Zealand

White Island is accessible by boat (or helicopter) from a number of towns in New Zealand. The best town to visit White Island from is Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. There are boat tour operators that Launch out from the mainland to take the 1-hour 15-minute journey to the island. We used White Island Tours to take our trip and they were amazing.

White Island is one of the most easily accessible active volcanoes in the world. As the volcano stretches up from the ocean floor, only the very tip is exposed to the air. Therefore, you can drive the boat right to the crater without having to climb the volcano!

While on your tour you’ll see sulphur vents, hot water streams and a lake of steaming acid. The crater lake changes colours periodically depending on what is happening in the magma chamber below.

White Island Tours

The tour of the island takes around 1-1.5 hours so the entire trip takes around 5-6 hours all up.

Departing Whakatane you take a 1.5-hour catamaran trip to the island. Depending on the direction (and size) of the swell your landing location will be determined on the fly. From here, it is a short inflatable boat journey ashore.

The experienced guides begin with a safety briefing and you are advised to wear your helmet and respirator at all times. An important point to note is that if you have ever had breathing difficulties from a condition such as Asthma, you’re advised to bring along your inhaler. The sulfurous air can cause your airways to become restricted.

You’ll visit the Sulphur Chimneys, Crater Lake, Hot Water Streams and a number of other geological features as you stroll through the crater. Finally, you arrive at the abandoned sulphur mine and hear the unfortunate story of its occupants.

The tour costs $229 NZD per adult and $130 NZD for children under 15 years old. You must book in advance. The tour is weather dependent, you will receive confirmation the night prior to departure as to whether the tour will be able to depart. You won’t be charged if the tour doesn’t depart.

The following information is given from the official website as to what to bring and what is included:

What to Bring to White Island New Zealand:

• Fully enclosed shoes with good grip.
• Warm waterproof jacket
• Drink/water bottle: a water filling station is available on board to refill, as required.
• Swimming gear is optional in summer

What is Included:

• Quality cruising aboard purpose-built vessels
• Professional and experienced crew and tour guides
• 1 – 1.5 hour fully guided walking tour of White Island’s inner crater area
• A light packed lunchbox
• Safety gear (gas mask and hard hat)
• Permit to land on the island
• Department of Conservation permit to spend time with any marine mammals that we encounter

You can find more information on the official website here.

White Island Tour Reviews

Don’t just take my word for it, check out these reviews from Trip Advisor . It truly is a once in a lifetime experience:

Great day out!!

We had the best day with White Island Tours. Phil and Kaitlyn were our tour guides for the day and both with so much knowledge of the area. It was the best feeling being on a live volcano experiencing the surroundings of sulphate and environment. We were provided everything that was required such as helmet and masks as the sulphate gets into your throat. We got to taste the water from the streams. Safety of our well-being was a high priority so was very comfortable being on this Island. We also got to swim in the water offshore where it was fresh but in some areas, you can feel the warmth from the underwater thermal vents before hopping back onto the boat and provided a nice lunch. On the way back we saw pods of dolphins which the captain slowed down for us to see and even turned the boat around to make waves for them to jump over. Highly recommend this tour and want to thank the team for giving us a once of a lifetime adventure. Triscina from Australia

An amazing, unearthly tour!

After a cruise around New Zealand, we spent a few extra days in Whakatane just to take the White Island Tour. So glad we did. The tour and tour leaders were outstanding! While the boat ride is long (1 hour, 20 minutes), it was definitely worth it. The Island is other-worldly with fumaroles, pressure mounds, and sulfur chimneys making you think you are on another planet. And yet, it never feels unsafe thanks to the tour leaders and their attention to your safety. The tour leaders are also very knowledgeable about the island’s geography and history. I do NOT recommend this tour for those with walking difficulties as you are required to climb in and out of small boat and travel over uneven ground. Also NOT recommended for small children or those adults with breathing difficulties. Do your research before booking!

You can also check out our post here on Tongariro Crossing New Zealand here.

Where to Stay in Whakatane

Booking.com

White Island feels like a place from another time, even another world. Overall, we have to say that the trip there is well worth the price and it’s an incredible destination for anyone who loves nature, alien landscapes and loves witnessing the power of the earth.

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Whakaari/White Island

White Island, Bay of Plenty

By GrahamIX

Whakaari / White Island is one of New Zealand’s most active volcanos, situated 48km off the coast of Whakatane in the North Island.

In December of 2019 a volcanic eruption occurred at Whakaari / White Island .  

To ensure the safety of locals and visitors there are currently no boat tours to, or helicopter flights that land on the island.

While visitors cannot set foot on the Whakaari / White Island, scenic flights are still available.

If you wish to know more about Whakaari / White Island, visit the GeoNet website's frequently asked questions page. (opens in new window)

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Whakaari / white island eruption impact 'massive financially, emotionally' - ngāti awa.

Ngāti Awa has taken a massive financial hit since the closure of the White Island Tours, but helping the community heal from the tragedy remains its priority.

File photo of Whakaari / White Island. Photo: Unsplash / Farrah Fuerst

A $42 million Treaty Settlement in 2003 marked a new beginning for the iwi, which finally had the means to buy-back sections of stolen land, invest in business and create prosperity for its people.

The purchase of the White Island Tours, a cafe and motel in 2017 did just that - creating more than 50 jobs and generating $4.5m revenue.

But Ngāti Awa did not imagine what would unfold on the island on 9 December last year, when the volcano on Whakaari / White Island exploded and claimed lives.

Ngāti Awa Group Holdings chief executive Tracey Hook said the impact had been extraordinary and devastating.

"The impacts have been massive, not only financially, but emotionally, and spiritually. The focus has included looking after the staff that we have now and keeping in touch with the families and staff that were severely impacted" she said.

The iwi was at the forefront of the recovery effort, deploying their own medical staff to help victims, and supporting the community during the aftermath.

One year on, helping the community heal remains its biggest priority.

But Hook said their people could rest assured Ngāti Awa would work hard to create employment elsewhere including through its recent Provincial Growth Fund projects.

"Through our fencing and waterways project, we've got targets to make sure that we have Ngāti Awa businesses across employment and supplier contracts.

"It's our obligation to do that, and that doesn't change," she said.

Ngāti Awa's annual revenue dropped from $10.5mn to $9.1m this year, largely due to the closure of the tours.

White Island Tours staff have also reduced to 23.

But it's not just Māori employed by this business who have lost jobs in the region over the last year.

There are 8512 Māori across the Bay of Plenty who are now on a JobSeeker benefit, up more than 2500 from last year, due to Covid-19.

Social Linkgeneral manager Liz Davies said that figure was more than double that of Pākehā in the region.

"Māori tend to be in lower income and more precarious employment, and those are the sorts of jobs that are generally the first to go," she said.

"That's particularly the case in hospitality and tourism, that were really hard-hit, and not just in Bay of Plenty, but nationwide."

It is unlikely that Whakaari itself will generate future employment.

Ngāti Awa Health and Social Services head Enid Ratahi-Pryor said it was not known if tours to the island would ever continue.

"Once upon a time we would have had a thriving summer tourism business with Whakaari running, and that's not going to be the case this summer. In terms of revenue, that's the other set-back, and no doubt we are going to suffer.

"But the revenue is not really what Ngāti Awa or our whānau and hapū are thinking about. We're still thinking about the people, those who passed, and those who are still living with the event.

"What this event has particularly highlighted is the importance of our people and what we've seen are the strengths of our team at not only Whakaari White Island Tours, but the strength and resilience that is coming through from our rūnanga team and their commitment to our manuhiri," she said.

Ratahi-Pryor said Ngāti Awa still felt an enormous weight of responsibility over the Whakaari eruption.

As people who prided themselves on their ability to look after manuhiri or visitors, she said the pain they carried would take a long time to heal.

"As iwi we pride ourselves on our ability to manaaki our manuhiri and we practise our values of whanaungatanga and wairuatanga," she said.

"Experiences like this, where we've had manuhiri pass, these sorts of things don't dissipate over weeks or over months. Our experience today feels no different to the day the eruption occurred.

"Because of the connection we have to Whakaari, we feel that spiritual ownership of what's occurred. It won't dissipate until our whānau, hapū and iwi are back to a place where our wairua is settled."

A formal ceremony marking one year since the tragedy will be held in Whakatāne on 9 December, led by Ngāti Awa.

There will a minute of silence at 2.11pm.

Te Ao Māori

Copyright © 2020 , Radio New Zealand

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What really happened on Whakaari/White Island?

THE ERUPTION BEGAN at 9.35pm with big heaves inside the crater. By 10.03pm it was pelting the nearby walking track with projectiles, but withheld its final energy until 10.11pm, when with a whoomph it sent a plume sky-high. A scalding current of steam and debris, coloured green by hydrothermally altered rock, rolled right across the track at 11m/s, and down to the south-eastern bays.

This eruption took place on Whakaari/White Island, New Zealand, on 27 April 2016, more than three years before the catastrophe in December last year that claimed the lives of 21 people (17 of them Australians) and injured 26 others.

Geologists from GNS Science, NZ’s leading provider of geoscientific research, reconstructed the pulses of the eruption from acoustic and seismic data, and, three weeks later when they could safely land on the island again, began figuring out the reach of those pulses.

The resulting scientific paper was published on 1 April last year, and its authors warned: “These eruptions clearly pose a significant hazard to the tourists that visit the island.” More than a quarter of the walking track had been bombarded by rock fragments. The pyroclastic surge, though just 5mm thick at its extremities, had nonetheless covered 95 per cent of the track.

You might wonder if this eruption triggered any changes, but it happened at night, with no witnesses, so it simply passed on by. You might, therefore, be tempted to wish it into the daylight, when tourists would have been afoot, because then it might have garnered more notice – since it came in pulses of ascending violence, there would have been time to run, and the headlines would have been nothing more than “Tour operators reassess risk after near miss”. It would have been a wake-up call that produced only meetings over cups of tea, with scribbled notes, bottom-line business interests weighed against risk, and some kind of agreed reform.

Three years later, at 2.11pm on 9 December 2019, there was another eruption – one that came without warning. Except, perhaps, that on 8 December the instruments that measure tremors in nanometres momentarily spiked 30 per cent higher than any tremor during the previous two months. Or perhaps for a moment during a video shot by tourist Allessandro Kauffmann earlier in the afternoon. Kauffmann was part of the group aboard Phoenix , a White Island Tours vessel, and he videoed much of the island tour. At about 1.30pm, he panned along the hot, strangely bright stream flowing from the crater lake. Amid the snap and spit of boiling mineral water, the microphone caught an off-camera aside by a White Island Tours guide: “I’m a little bit worried why it’s going green.”

Whakaari’s dangerous charm

Attitudes to Whakaari have long been cavalier. In 1914 miners drained the crater lake to uncover deeper deposits of sulphur. Geologists suspect this affected the stability of the crater cliffs, because in September that same year, a 300m-wide chunk collapsed. As it fell, the rock, weakened by heat and saturated with water, mutated from an avalanche into a highly fluid lahar (a violent type of mud or debris flow), which ran for more than 1km eastward to the sea, burying the 11 miners and destroying the sulphur factory.

Then, during Whakaari’s long eruptive phase from 1976 to 1982, the keen young geologists of the NZ Geological Survey’s Rotorua office put together the first comprehensive analysis of the volcano’s mighty hydrothermal systems. They were often photographed as minute specks against vast up-rushing columns of steam, or in front of dark umbrellas of mud thrown up by the vents. They were out there for hours, measuring the gradual expansion or contraction of the crater floor, even when the volcano was – to use their word – “ashing”, the grey flakes coating their hair and clothes.

“We took risks and didn’t even think about it,” says Ian Nairn, who was one of that group. “We often went out straight after a serious eruption. It was our job, our interest, and the main problem was how long it took to organise a boat or a helicopter.”

Peter and Jenny Tait first became similarly transfixed by the volcano’s dangerous charm when they took a group from Germany on a fishing charter, but, at the Germans’ impulsive request, finished up exploring the island. The Taits built a business out of taking tourists to stand at the junction of the real world and the unruly energy of the underworld: the strange colours, the steaming lake, the crater cliffs painted bright yellow at their base and then rising almost vertically to 300m, cupping the humans below within a thrilling amphitheatre.

“That first trip was in 1990,” Tait tells me, “and, as it developed, Jenny and I were taking six people a day there. It was very personal. The reaction of the punters was, ‘It’s unbelievable,’ and that’s what drove us to keep developing it.”

In 2017 the Taits sold their business, White Island Tours – a 27-year-old enterprise that came with a motel and cafe – to Ngati Awa Group Holdings, which kept on many of the Taits’ employees.

“Safety?” Tait says, when asked about the potential risks of taking visitors to an active volcano. “We were more worried about the Whakatane River bar than the island erupting, to be honest. There were so many things. It was an adventure trip. You have to cross the river bar. You have to cross pretty rough ocean, then get into an inflatable and land, with very tricky conditions, to get onto the island at times. And you’re on the island a very short time, really. The overall chances of it erupting seemed pretty small.”

On the afternoon of 9 December, Tait was sitting in his lounge, high on the rocky ridge that overlooks Whakatane and out across 50km of blue ocean to Whakaari. He saw the eruptive column’s silent rise. He didn’t know if there were people on the island or not.

The rescue mission

Those aboard Phoenix knew. At about 2pm, passengers had returned to the vessel, which was moored in Te Awapuia Bay on the south-eastern corner of the island. Phoenix motored north around Troup Head, giving its passengers one last photo opportunity directly up the crater, before it turned south to return to Whakatane.

It was right at that moment, to gasps of pure wonder, that the eruptive column boiled into the sky. Then the column darkened at the base, and a sinister ground-hugging wave steadily overwhelmed the island, billowing towards the vessel. The framing on every camera went up, down or sideways, jerking with fear.

The skipper accelerated clear of the ash cloud, and for his passengers the eruption was no more than a terrible fright. But there were people on board who knew that White Island Tours’ new flagship vessel, Te Puia Whakaari , was still moored back at Te Awapuia Bay, and that its tourists were still on shore. That meant 38 passengers from the cruise liner Ovation of the Seas , plus four guides.

Meanwhile, the Rotorua-based company Volcanic Air had brought four tourists to the island on a Squirrel helicopter that the company’s pilot and guide had set down on a landing pad behind the ruin of the sulphur factory. That made 47 people still on the island.

At 2.14pm, Phoenix sent out an emergency call to Coastguard Whakatane, advising of an eruption and requesting urgent medical evacuation. Phoenix then sped back to Te Awapuia Bay, and called the coastguard again at 2.16pm, confirming casualties. Minutes later, Te Puia Whakaari also contacted the coastguard. The three calls triggered a Civil Defence emergency, alerting police, St John Ambulance services, rescue-helicopter services and hospitals on the mainland.

But Whakaari lay across 50km of rough ocean, far from any immediate help. As national agencies began to tool up, the locals were already organising their own ship-to-shore and air-to-ground rescues.

At Te Awapuia Bay, the ash had already cleared. The sky was once again blue and the sun shone, but Te Puia Whakaari and the island itself were a dull, flat grey. Phoenix ’s skipper kept his engines running, ready to speed clear if the volcano blew again.

Paul Kingi was a senior skipper and the tours manager at White Island Tours, but he’d joined Phoenix that morning simply as a guide and was free of any captain’s responsibility to stay with the vessel. He took immediate charge of the rescue, loading two crewmates into Phoenix ’s inflatable, then gunning its motor to intercept a woman swimming towards Te Puia Whakaari . After plucking another two women from the water, he took all three to Phoenix . Then he turned to the dozen or so people, grey with ash, who were huddled on or near the island’s landing.

As the sea-to-shore rescue got underway, an air-to-ground rescue was assembling. The rising plume from Whakaari had served as a shrill alarm for pilots from Whakatane, Rotorua and Taupo. Mark Law, head pilot of Whakatane-based helicopter operators Kahu NZ, saw the eruption as he drove back from Tauranga in his car. He got on the phone, and the Kahu base confirmed that GNS Science’s monitoring cameras on the island had blanked out. Simultaneously, high above the blue expanse of the Bay of Plenty, a helicopter pilot who had lifted off from Whakaari just six minutes earlier called his head pilot, Tim Barrow, at Volcanic Air, and described the scale of the eruption. Barrow then called Law.

Meanwhile, retired helicopter rescue pilot John Funnell was in the air in a small fixed-wing aircraft near Whakatane, keeping up his flying hours. As two Kahu choppers prepared to lift off for Whakaari, with pilots Law, Jason Hill and Tom Storey aboard, Funnell was enlisted as ‘top cover’, a specific role within emergency operations – the top cover is the fixed-winger that circles high above the scene and transmits information received from the team below.

So a small airborne unit was formed, bound together not by official roles or rehearsals, but by the natural meshing of grave concerns and aided by local knowledge of landing pads within the crater.

By then, the sea-to-shore rescue was closing up, and Phoenix had become a de facto hospital ship. Kingi’s inflatable had delivered the people on the landing to the vessel, including the four Volcanic Air tourists and their pilot. Three of those five were probably the luckiest people on the island that day, because when the volcano blew they were already at the shoreline, the last point of interest in their hour-long tour. The pilot urged them into the water, and he and the two who immersed themselves escaped serious injury. The other two hesitated, and were later hospitalised for burns.

Kingi, back on the island, had gone inland on the walking track towards the crater to find more survivors and help them down to the inflatable. The last person Kingi found, just as he had decided to stop searching, was 19-year-old Australian Jesse Langford, who stumbled down towards him. Jesse had been more than 300m inland when the volcano blew. He was his family’s only survivor, because his father, Anthony, mother, Kristine, and sister, Winona, passed away around him.

At about 2.45pm, Phoenix took off for Whakatane. The Kahu helicopters above and the vessel below crossed paths just before 3pm, and Law swooped low, the urgency of his mission and the scale of it confirmed by the sight of prone people being tended to on the back deck.

Those who had sustained the worst burns had been placed at the front of the vessel, and two doctors had stepped forward from among the passengers to tend to them – a general practitioner on holiday from the UK, and another from Germany.

Geoff Hopkins, a pastor at Arise church in Hamilton with a St John certificate, also provided assistance. He dug deep into remote first-aid training he’d done in the UK, but he was dealing with people drifting in and out of consciousness, people who were saying, “I’m not going to make it.” So he dug deeper yet, into his faith, and told them, “You’re not going to give up.”

His daughter, Lillani, was at the back of the vessel with the other victims, doing her best to stave off hypothermia and shock. She found herself singing the evangelical song “Waymaker”:

                You are here – moving in our midst…

                You are here – working in this place…

                You are here – healing every heart…

And if she stopped there’d be a touch on her leg, and a whisper: “Keep singing.”

Halfway back, Phoenix was met by a coastguard vessel delivering paramedics and pain-relief medication.

About 3pm, the Kahu helicopters entered the crater airspace, and Law descended to 200 feet for a closer look. The centre of the island was now mostly clear of steam and ash. He saw some figures lying down, and others sitting – there were people alive down there. The Kahu pilots set their choppers down on the crater floor and got out of their machines, scuffing through the grey ashfall, amid dense gases and drifting ash.

Breathing was difficult, even with gas masks. They assessed the dead, the dying and the living. Through a handheld radio – they had to remove their gas masks to speak into it – they described injuries to Funnell, their top cover, who relayed the information to Whakatane Hospital.

The fliers felt the desperation in everyone they encountered, and their response was to talk back, to comfort, to tell each person, “We’re here. We’ll get you out,” before moving on to the next person. Law got word that the big air ambulances were still being staged at Whakatane, so any immediate rescue was up to them. The most badly injured – by ballistics as well as scalding – were those nearest the crater. The Kahu team hopped one of the choppers further up into the threatening miasma to get them, loaded five people, and Hill took off for Whakatane Hospital. Below him, out of the steamy cauldron that had produced the lethal blast, the volcano suddenly started ashing.

By now, it was about 3.40pm, and Barrow was settling his helicopter onto a landing pad by the shore. He’d flown in from Rotorua with pilot Graeme Hopcroft. Funnell had updated them on conditions, and they raced up to the crater to join the search. They half-carried one survivor to their chopper, then joined the Kahu crew to assist five more survivors into Law’s machine. Law lifted up and out for Whakatane. Barrow, Hopcroft and Storey loaded one more survivor into the Volcanic Air helicopter, then Barrow and Hopcroft fired it up and banked south for Whakatane.

For a time, Storey was left alone. He spent the next half-hour grouping bodies for later retrieval. Among the bodies was his friend, White Island Tours guide Hayden Marshall-Inman. A second Volcanic Air helicopter arrived to pick up Storey, and completed an aerial reconnaissance of the crater.

By then it was all but over.

Two Westpac air-ambulance helicopters arrived, one circling on standby above the crater, while the second landed St John medical director Tony Smith and three other clinicians on the eerie domain below. They checked the bodies for signs of life, and confirmed no survivors were left behind.

The science behind the eruption

In geological terms, the steam-driven eruption on 9 December was a small one, similar in energy and range to the 27 April event three years earlier. One significant difference was that it happened more quickly.

Shane Cronin, professor of volcanology at the University of Auckland, compares the 9 December eruption to a giant pressure cooker blowing its lid. Whakaari’s “lid” consisted of layers of sulphur, salts and weakened rock, which were metres deep. These were blasted away to form an entirely new vent. When this lid blew, a pressure wave fled across the island at supersonic speed, invisible but forceful enough to knock gas masks off the faces of tourists and guides and to shift Volcanic Air’s 1.3 tonne Squirrel helicopter half off its landing pad.

Then an eruptive column of steam and ash climbed into the sky, perilous to any who stood close by.

But the most lethal event in the eruptive sequence was the third: a dense, ground-hugging pyroclastic surge, which flowed from the vent, over the walking track and right down to the eastern shoreline.

Cronin calculates from past studies of steam-driven eruptions on Whakaari that this surge would have burst from the crater at 300ºC and 100km/hour, losing force and heat in the ambient air as it rolled east. It was still boiling hot but had slowed to about 25km/hour when it flowed into the sea.

The surge was mainly formed of steam and ash, but carried within it a “salty aerosol”, says Cronin. Past testing of residues from this type of eruption has found them to consist mostly of fine fragments of pulverised rock coated in sulphur and acid salts, which turn into concentrated droplets of sulphuric acid when they come into contact with air, water or human skin. The remaining residues are hydrochloric acid and small amounts of hydrofluoric acid, which is the most corrosive of the residues, especially if inhaled.

Although the Squirrel helicopter was 1km away from the eruptive vent, its rotor blades flapped up and down like a bird’s wings in the turbulence of the pressure wave. Then the pyroclastic surge plastered it with ash. Afterwards, it sat stranded in the grey surrounds, grievously damaged, its carbon fibre and aluminium rotors broken and drooping, undone by nature’s power.

Calculating the devastation

The eruption had triggered a national emergency, and leadership had been formally handed to Bay of Plenty’s Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, with police the lead agency for search and rescue, and for recovery. The helicopter pilots had operated independently of the official system, but fell under its command once they landed and were stood down.

Eight bodies still lay on the island, two of them White Island Tours guides – Tipene Maangi and Hayden Marshall-Inman. As public pressure rose by the day to recover the Whakaari dead, Marshall-Inman became a symbol for all eight. The 40-year-old was well liked within the communities of Whakatane and Ohope, and he’d been with White Island Tours for many years.

A sense of frustration was growing in Whakatane, fuelled by outside control swooping in and sidelining local pilots, quarantining tour boats without properly cleaning them of corrosive ash, and suggesting – wrongly – that there was a criminal inquiry into White Island Tours. The town’s diffuse anger found focus on delays in the recovery.

But police were responsible for ensuring no further casualties, and the GNS Science seismometer on Whakaari was laying down a continuous recording of the volcano’s quivering energy.The volcano had erupted out of nowhere, and might do so again. In the hours after the eruption, the island was relatively quiet – and, in retrospect, this was the window for recovering the bodies.

Indications of unrest became more pronounced on Tuesday 10 December when the tremors began again, and on Wednesday and early Thursday the tremors peaked at levels well above the eruption itself. On Thursday evening, the tremors fell away sharply, and continued to fall on Friday, when the NZ Defence Force landed on the island at first light.

It was a team of eight, including six bomb disposal specialists, kitted out in three protective layers, with breathing apparatus and four hours’ worth of air. The work they did was exhausting. Around the active crater area, they waded through dense, hot, acidic mud, but they collected the bodies, and prepared them for final retrieval by helicopter to HMNZS Wellington , which was waiting offshore.

They recovered six bodies, but two had gone. Marshall-Inman and Winona Langford had been 800m away from the eruption, and 300m from the shoreline, but a violent rainstorm had swollen the stream near where they lay, and washed them into the sea. Police would later say that, while patrolling in Te Awapuia Bay, they’d seen a body believed to be Marshall-Inman near the landing, but couldn’t get close enough to recover it, and called in a Navy inflatable. In rebounding waves, the Navy personnel were unable to take the body aboard, and the rough sea allowed no second chance.

Resigned to the lack of any formal goodbye, the Inman family organised a celebration of life at the Whakatane Baptist Church on 20 December. Maangi’s photo was on display, too, and hundreds attended. The mourners heard from the helicopter-pilot rescuers that both Marshall-Inman and Maangi had tried to help members of their tour groups before they’d finally succumbed. Monday 9 December had been Marshall-Inman’s 1111th venture onto the island, and each one of them, except the last, had been recorded in his diary.

A few weeks later, Marshall-Inman’s brother Mark Inman and friends rode jet skis out to Whakaari, and sat on their craft in Te Awapuia Bay. After the long haul out to the island, the eight riders opened cans of beer and performed their own karakia – Maori incantations and prayers, used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection – to their friend and brother, and to all those who’d lost their lives.

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Whakaari White Island trial hears expert evidence that there was a one in 20 chance of a 'mass casualty event'

An internationally renowned expert volcanologist has told the White Island trial that by his calculations tours to the island presented a one in 20 chance of a "mass casualty event". 

Sir Stephen Sparks travelled from the United Kingdom to give evidence in Auckland and told the court about the difference between the risk of death or injury to one person and the "societal risk to a population" when groups of tourists were regularly visiting the volcano.

The trial has heard nearly three full days of expert witness testimony so far this week, with a focus on how to evaluate the risk of Whakaari and how to communicate those risks. 

Dr Sparks explained his calculations considered the number of hours in the year groups of tourists were on the volcano, the size of those tours and the likelihood of an eruption in the same time frame.   

"I came up with something like a 5 per cent chance that a tour during the year might be affected. So that's about a one in 20 chance — a very high societal risk," he told the court under questioning from the prosecution.

Dr Sparks explained that if one tourist spends 1.25 hours on Whakaari in one year, the calculation of their risk would result in a much lower number. 

But the court heard groups of up to 40 tourists are on the island for 1,350 hours a year and that changes the risk calculation.

"The chances of a tour being on the island are much, much higher than any one individual," Dr Sparks said. 

"There is a much greater chance that there's going to be a mass casualty event." 

Prosecutor Kristy McDonald asked Dr Sparks about how tolerable that level of risk to a population was considered to be.

"The societal risk for the group of individuals — in other words, the mass casualty event — is hugely higher than what's normally regarded as an acceptable risk for a population or a group," he said.

"In particular, in the UK there are rule-of-thumb risk thresholds for industrial facilities for example, if you're going to build a chemical plant, then that's something like 1/100,000 risk of a mass casualty event," he said. 

"You've got to demonstrate you're below that kind of level.

"So that's comparing with one in 20 for societal risk for a visit to Whakaari. From a societal risk point of view, it's way into what would be regarded in the UK as an unacceptable risk."   

Dr Sparks gave evidence on Monday and Tuesday, while New Zealand volcanologist Professor Jonathan Proctor has been addressing the court on Wednesday. 

Worksafe NZ alleges the defendants did not adequately understand or manage the risk of running tours on the island. 

Thirteen parties were originally charged in this case, but after several guilty pleas were entered and one defendant had charges against it dismissed, now just six are on trial. 

Three of those defendants are the brothers who own Whakaari — James, Andrew and Peter Buttle. 

The three commercial entities on trial are their company Whakaari Management Limited, and tourism companies ID Tours New Zealand and Tauranga Tourism Services. 

Lawyer for the Buttle family James Cairney has previously noted to the court the brothers themselves did not conduct tours to the island. 

And in a document shown to the court, New Zealand's volcano monitor GNS Science had observed: "The three Buttle brothers all seemed to understand the need for robust risk management protocols to be in place and they undertook to talk to the operators to encourage them to re-think their procedures." 

This week, defence counsel spent some time questioning Dr Sparks on his risk calculations. 

Mr Cairney made the point tours happen concurrently and asked how would the risk calculation be affected if it was only a few hundred hours in the year when tourists were on the island. 

"It would have a modest effect on the calculation," Dr Sparks said. 

"The societal risk is the number of exposed people multiplied by ... time, so actually if there are several tours together, that's a factor which will put up the societal risk because there will be more exposed people on the island so the potential for a larger mass casualty [event] goes up. 

"It doesn't necessarily follow that having tours there at the same time is going to reduce the societal risk." 

Responsibility to monitor Whakaari 

Throughout the three days of expert testimony so far this week, both the prosecution and defence have questioned the witnesses on how information generated through the scientific monitoring of volcanoes can be used to manage the risk on the island. 

Defence counsel referenced a document from GNS Science from a week before the eruption that said there was a one in seven chance of an eruption within the next four weeks.

Mr Cairney told the court that document was not shared beyond GNS Science and asked Dr Sparks if he was the volcano observer, would he share that information with government agencies. 

The professor used examples from his time monitoring the Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat, and said: "We would keep the government abreast of our estimates of risk and if there was tangible change from a previous estimate, we would certainly notify them. 

"In the particular case you've given me, there was a small change ... from a previous estimate." 

Mr Cairney also presented to the court a GNS Science volcano alert bulletin that was being drafted as Whakaari erupted, and was "tragically never sent". 

GNS Science volcanologist Dr Gill Jolly gave three days of expert witness last week and told the court the research institute did not have a regulatory role over Whakaari and did not have a contractual relationship with its owners or tour operators to conduct an expert risk assessment. 

GNS Science was one of the original defendants in this case, also charged with breaches of New Zealand's workplace health and safety laws. 

The institute successfully had charges against it reduced and then pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. 

On Wednesday, Dr Proctor read part of his evidence brief to the court, and said it was likely Whakaari had been "underestimated". 

"If it was suggested to me that no-one could have known that Whakaari would erupt in the way it did on December 9, 2019, I would say that is incorrect," he said. 

"While predicting exactly when an eruption will occur is not possible, it is well known that Whakaari would erupt again and would most likely erupt in the same way it has over recent decades, with associated hazards including ballistics and pyroclastic flows and surges." 

Communicating to tourists

Dr Proctor repeatedly told the court he did not offer an opinion on whether GNS Science had a duty to provide public information over the risks and hazards on Whakaari.

But he said the volcanic alert bulletins that were published were not the type of material a lay person could fully comprehend. 

Dr Proctor said, in his opinion, releasing existing hazard maps that depicted GNS Science exclusion zones "would have been very helpful for tour operators, Whakaari Management Limited, the pilots contracted by GNS to fly to Whakaari and other third parties such as the National Emergency Management Agency".

"The fact that this process was used by GNS management to make decisions about access tells me that these calculations were robust enough for sharing. 

"While the maps do contain some technical statistics, they are simply enough to communicate to a member of the public the areas that experts have decided are too dangerous to venture." 

Whakaari was sitting at level two on New Zealand's volcanic alert level system on the day of the disaster and several survivors have previously told the court they had no awareness of what that meant. 

Level three is an eruption.

Dr Proctor said in his opinion the existing volcanic alert level system did not communicate the risk of visiting a volcano to members of the public. 

The trial continues on Thursday. 

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Whakaari/White Island Eco, Nature and Wildlife Tours

White Island, also known in Maori as Whakaari, is an active volcano situated 49 km off the coast of New Zealand's Bay of Plenty region . White Island is easily accessible as tour operators run regular trips to the island from Whakatane , in fact it is one of the most accessible active marine volcanos in the world. Though the majority of White Island is underwater, some 321m of the cone sticks out of the ocean, forming a circular island. Tours of White Island include visiting the ruins of the sulphur factory abandoned in the 1930s, and getting up close to roaring steam vents, bubbling mud pits, hot volcanic streams, sulphur encrusted fumeroles and the amazing lake of steaming acid.

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Whakaari/White Island court case will change the level of accepted risk in NZ’s tourism industry

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Professor of Tourism, Griffith University

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An Auckland court has found Whakaari Management Limited (WML) guilty of breaching workplace safety laws relating to the Whakaari/White Island eruption in 2019. This decision could have implications for anyone involved in adventure tourism in New Zealand.

When Whakaari erupted on December 9 2019 there were 47 people on the island. The eruption killed 22 of them and injured 25, some severely. The island was at alert level VAL 2 (moderate to heightened volcanic unrest) when it erupted.

As owner of the island, WML was charged with failing to adequately minimise the risks to tourists.

The court’s guilty verdict will likely result in significant changes to the NZ$26.5 billion tourism industry. So how did we get here and what is likely to change?

New Zealand’s most active volcano

The Buttle family has owned Whakaari since 1936. Brothers Peter, James and Andrew Buttle inherited the island in 2012 and own it through a family trust. The trust leased Whakaari to WML (with the Buttles as the company’s directors).

WML had licensing agreements with tour companies to run commercial walking tours.

Read more: Why were tourists allowed on White Island?

Of the 47 people on the island when it erupted, 38 were part of a tour organised through the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas. Questions quickly arose about how aware tourists were of the risks and who might be held responsible.

WorkSafe New Zealand originally charged 13 parties under the Health and Safety at Work Act . Six eventually pleaded guilty to the charges and six, including the three Buttle brothers , had their cases dismissed.

The case against WML

WML was charged with breaching two sections of the act. The company was found guilty of one charge while the other was dismissed.

A key question in the court case was what responsibility WML bore when it licensed others to run the tour operations on the island.

WML argued it was only a landowner and not responsible for tourists’ safety. The company also claimed it had no physical presence on Whakaari or involvement in day-to-day tourism operations.

However, Judge Evangelos Thomas did not accept WML’s “passive owner” argument. The judge pointed to several factors as evidence, including:

• its business was to generate income through the enabling of commercial walking tours on Whakaari
• it entered into the licence agreements and had termination rights for breaches
• it maintained a direct and continuing relationship with tour operators
• it engaged with tour operators and other relevant entities, including Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS), civil defence and various agencies interested and involved in increasing tourist numbers to Whakaari
• it had occasional direct engagement with WorkSafe and GNS.

The judge also noted an earlier eruption in 2016 should have had all Whakaari stakeholders on notice for sound risk assessment. This eruption occurred when Whakaari was at VAL 1 (minor volcanic unrest). Fortunately it occurred at night when there were no visitors on the island.

Judge Thomas argued this showed the volcano

could erupt at any time and without warning, with the risk of death or serious injury to tourists or tour guides who may be there at that time.

WML should have engaged experts in volcanology and health and safety to advise on risks presented by tours to Whakaari, the judge found.

Sentencing will happen in February with a maximum possible penalty of a $NZ1.5 million fine.

Adventure tourism rules have already changed

This tragedy has already impacted the adventure tourism sector of New Zealand.

In August, the workplace relations and safety minister announced government changes to the rules for adventure tourism operations. Minister Carmel Sepuloni said:

Adventure activity operators will now be required by law to communicate serious risks to customers, meaning prospective participants can be fully informed of risks before buying a ticket, in the time before the activity begins and throughout the activity, including if the risks change.

WorkSafe was also given expanded powers to suspend, cancel or refuse registrations for adventure operators who cannot provide activities safely.

Read more: Whakaari tragedy: court case highlights just how complex it is to forecast a volcanic eruption

It is clear more rigorous risk assessments are required in New Zealand’s tourism industry. Responsibility for safety will no longer fall on tour operators alone.

All facets of the tourism supply chain, from land owners to tour operators to transport providers, will need to fulfil certain responsibilities to ensure the safety of their customers and workers. This will include careful consideration of the definition of “serious risk” and the many possible sources of risk.

Agencies such as the Meteorological Service and GNS will need to update adventure tour operators on a day-to-day basis. Natural hazards and risks such as extreme weather events, as well as volcanic and seismic risks, will need to be understood, factored into the planning of tour operations, and clearly communicated.

Reducing the risk in adventure tourism

Risk is an exciting attraction of adventure experiences for tourists in New Zealand. But public perception of risk is not the same as actual risk.

Some adventure tourism businesses offer experiences, such as bungy jumping, based on high perceived risk. But in reality these are low risk due to long-standing safety protocols.

Others, such as tours to geologically active locations, offer low perceived risk but there is the potential for periodic and unpredictable high actual risk.

Operators providing such experiences will now be obligated to shoulder greater responsibilities in ensuring such risks do not cause real harm.

All aspects of risk associated with the full spectrum of tourism businesses and tour operations, including but not limited to adventure tourism activities, will now need to be considered more carefully in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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The New York Yankees are headed home.

After two series on the road — where they notched an impressive 6-1 record — Aaron Boone’s club will finally return to Yankee Stadium to take on the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, April 5 to kick off a six-game home stand.

And if you want to see Marcus Stroman make his home debut against Blue Jays hurler Yusei Kikuchi, it isn’t too late to scoop up last-minute tickets.

At the time of publication, prices start at $83 before fees on Vivid Seats.

For those hoping to get closer to the action, 100-level seats can be snagged for $188 before fees.

As an added bonus, all fans will be given an Opening Day Commemorative Ticket.

Not too shabby.

Can’t wait to head to the ballpark in the Bronx Bronx to see Judge, Soto, Rizzo, Volpe, and Stanton mash in pinstripes?

You’re in the right place, Yanks fans.

We’ve got everything you need to know and more about the Yankees 2024 home opener against the Blue Jays below.

All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.

New York Yankees Opening Day tickets 2024

A complete breakdown of all the best prices on tickets at Yankee Stadium for Opening Day can be found below.

(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout .)

Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. 

They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.

New York Yankees 2024 home game tickets

Hoping to head uptown to Yankee Stadium later this season?

We recommend checking out our breakdown of all the best prices on Yankees home game tickets here .

If you prefer a cut-and-dry calendar, you can find the  Yankees complete 2024 schedule — including away games — here .

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Never been out to a game?

You can get a lay of the land by checking out a map of Yankee Stadium here:

How to watch the Yankees in 2024

For those that can’t make it out to the Bronx this Friday, no need to freak.

You can still catch all games on the YES Network via DirecTV.

For those outside of the Yankees home market, we recommend watching via MLB.tv.

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To close the Bronx Bombers’ second series of the season, Aaron Judge belted an extra-innings home run to secure a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

This wasn’t no ordinary four-bagger, though.

If you want to find out what made this dinger so special, you can find the story about the impressive HR here .

Looking for more scoops?  Click here to find all of the New York Post’s Yankees stories.

Huge concert tours in 2024

Want to jam out at a show this year?

We’ve got you covered there, too.

Here are just five of the biggest acts you won’t want to miss live over the next few months.

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Why the Spice Girls kicked Mel B out of their WhatsApp chat

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The Spice Girls told Mel B to “Stop” spilling the beans.

Melanie Brown admitted she has been kicked out of the girl group’s WhatsApp chat for gabbing about a potential reunion tour celebrating their 30th anniversary.

“I heard you got kicked out of the WhatsApp group?” ITV presenter Alison Hammond asked Brown on the Britain’s “This Morning” Thursday

“That always happens to me,” the singer, 48, responded, “because I say things.

“You know, I get so excited when it comes to Spice Girls, because it is 30 years. And, you know, we’ve got a lot to celebrate — the fact that we’re all still healthy and living life and all talking still.”

She added, “It’s nice, so I can’t say anything else to get myself kicked out!”

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The Spice Girls, which formed in 1994, consisted of Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) and Brown (Scary Spice).

The group had a string of hits like “Wannabe” and “Spice Up Your Life” that made them global sensations, selling over 100 million albums before disbanding in 2000.

They briefly reunited in 2007 for a tour and again in 2012 to perform at the London Olympics.

“We are wanting to do something, and we are, but I can’t really tell you because I’ll get kicked out of the WhatsApp group again,” Brown said on “The Jonathan Ross Show” last month.

“I have to be really careful. We’re definitely doing something. I’m probably going to get told off! I’m in trouble now.”

However, Beckham, 49, threw cold water on the tour speculation earlier this week.

“We do have a group chat. I do speak to all the girls,” the fashion designer said during an interview on Radio France .

“It would be lovely for us to do something to celebrate — a dinner or a lunch — and reminisce, but, yes, it will not be any more than that.”

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Beckham also confirmed that she has no desire to hit the stage again and is now focused on her fashion and beauty lines.

“I’m so proud of what I achieved with the Spice Girls that now, for me, it’s about empowering people through fashion and beauty,” she shared.

“There have been lots of rumors about tours and performances, but that will not happen. But I’d love to celebrate with the girls in another way, just me and them.”

Brown is currently promoting her memoir, “Brutally Honest.”

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