AT least two Chinese nationals were among those 47 people on New Zealand’s White Island at the time of a volcanic eruption Monday, the New Zealand police said yesterday.

The two Chinese nationals were injured due to the eruption and have been sent to a hospital for treatment, according to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Chinese Embassy in New Zealand has sent consular officials to the hospital to visit the two injured Chinese nationals.

The death toll after Monday’s volcanic eruption rose to six after one of the 31 people injured died in the hospital.

Eight others were still missing and were presumed dead, the New Zealand police said yesterday.

Forty-seven people were on White Island at the time of the eruption.

The 47 people, most of them tourists or tour guides, included two people from Britain, four from Germany, 24 from Australia, five from New Zealand, two from China, one from Malaysia and nine from the United States.

One of the six victims was a New Zealand tour guide. The nationalities of the other five victims have yet to be confirmed, the police said.

Most of the injured people have suffered severe burns and lung damage, according to St. John Ambulance services.

The police said the rescue operation was initially “too dangerous to carry out,” and they had rescued “everyone that could be rescued” Monday.

Rescuers also faced toxic gases and small eruptions while planning to search for the eight missing tourists on White Island.

However, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said “no signs of life have been seen at any point” after helicopters and aircraft undertook a number of aerial reconnaissance flights over the island since the eruption.

Shane Cronin, a professor of Earth Sciences at University of Auckland, told local media that White Island is one of the several volcanoes in New Zealand that can produce sudden explosive eruptions at any time.

“In this case, magma is shallow, and the heat and gases affect surface and ground water to form vigorous hydrothermal systems,” Cronin wrote.

White Island is a famous tourist attraction in New Zealand. People can explore the volcanic island by boat or by helicopter. If safety conditions permit, visitors can even enter the main volcano crater.

According to videos released by local media, a group of people were desperate to get off the island when the volcano erupted.

The “short-lived” eruption generated an ash plume of over 3,000 meters above the vent, said the GeoNet website in New Zealand.

(Xinhua)