Posted on 12/12/2019 2:22:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
Screaming in pain, with skin peeling from their faces and limbs scorched by steam and ash, the survivors were transferred from a dinghy bobbing in the water off the small island.
There was “lots of screaming. Panicked screaming,” he says, recalling the injured shouting: “‘Get me out of here. I’m burning. I’m burning.'”
The tour boat Hopkins was on had left White Island, off the coast of Whakatane, New Zealand, shortly before the volcano erupted on Monday. Forty-seven people were on the island at the time of the blast. Eight people have so far been confirmed dead.
In the moments immediately after the eruption, the boat’s crew made the decision to turn around and help those people left behind.
The 23 people who were brought on board the boat had “horrific burns,” he said.
“A lot of people were in shorts, T-shirts, so their faces, their arms, their hands, their legs (were burned),” Hopkins added. “Skin falling off, and hanging from chins. From fingers. From elbows.”
The vessel, owned by a company called White Island Tours, was more accustomed to running sightseeing trips than being used as a floating triage center, but as more and more injured people were brought to the boat by dinghies, the crew made a desperate appeal for any doctors on board to come forward.
Hopkins and his daughter are both trained in first aid, and they stepped up to help as the situation unfolded.
Of all the people that Hopkins helped, he says one couple has stuck in his mind the most.
US newlyweds Matthew Urey, 36, and Lauren Barham, 32, from Richmond, Virginia, were on the island during a day trip from their honeymoon cruise on the Royal Caribbean vessel Ovation of the Seas.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Just horrific.
“Skin falling off, and hanging from chins. From fingers. From elbows.”
That’s gotta HURT!!! Poor people.
Please God, be with these people. Lord, we pray for their healing.
They were covered in ash, not lava.
Dead, yes...but not as horrific. Many, many bodies found in sleeping positions.
Talk about being in the WRONG place at the WRONG time...
No kidding...
Think about how bad it hurts from a little burn taking something out the oven, hot water burn and make that 50x. I’ve had a small burn on a finger and it hurts for hours.
I just can’t imagine the immense pain these people experienced.
Nature can be a real bitch!
There is a Burn unit at VCU...I wonder if the Richmond couple could be stabilized and flown back to their home town hospital VCU.
There is a Burn unit at VCU...I wonder if the Richmond couple could be stabilized and flown back to their home town hospital VCU.
Serious need for skin grafts.
Skin falling off...
Yah...it hurts like you can’t imagine. Like you’re burning alive and can’t put the fire out.
I read that article to my husband last night. He spent almost two weeks in a burn center last Spring, so we have some experience with procedures and treatment. Debriding, removing the burned dead skin and tissue, was the worst part he said. For the graft, they took skin from his thigh for the burn site, then used pig skin to cover the donor site. He has healed very well and has been released from care, but while his burn was serious it was not as extensive as these poor people’s.
Our hearts and prayers go out to them.
Happened to you?? sorry
Breathing that superheated air and steam usually kills those who are exposed for even a few seconds. The lining of the lungs becomes scorched.
It's so strange. This country and all the 1st world (USA) countries have ALL the technology that can be had. So how does an earthquake in New Zealand get ignored?
There are, AT LEAST, prognostications about dangerous earthquake zones.
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