10. Question No. 10—PoliceGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 10—Police10. GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of Police: What actions have the Police taken in response to the eruption on Whakaari / White Island?Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Police): Police are working hard to ascertain whether it is safe to land on the island to recover the victims. Please let me assure the House and the people of New Zealand that this is a police priority. Results from a flight that collected gas samples on Tuesday afternoon are currently being analysed and this is important for understanding the processes driving volcanic activity and assessing deployment risk. The New Zealand Defence Force and Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff also launched a drone at 8.30 this morning and information from this surveillance will help inform decisions by police. Police will work closely with WorkSafe and the coroner in their investigations and police continue to support families of victims on the ground with the assistance of local iwi Red Cross and Victim Support. As I said yesterday in the House the bottom line is that police are doing all they possibly can in what is a tragic and significant event. For now our duty and priority is a return of people's loved ones to them. I am confident that police are doing all they can to achieve this. Ginny Andersen: What advice has he seen from scientists about the likely conditions that police recovery teams would face following the eruption at Whakaari / White Island?Hon STUART NASH: GNS Science (GNS) has advised that at around 4 this morning the level of volcanic tremor significantly increased on Whakaari. Ongoing monitoring by GNS suggests continuing high gas pressures within the volcano. Poisonous and corrosive gases such as carbon dioxide hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide are I understand present. High levels of these gases can make it difficult to breathe can cause loss of consciousness and damage airways and internal organs and in extreme cases can kill people. The conditions are compounded by volatile jets of super-hot steam and mud in several sites. GNS reports that the situation remains highly uncertain as to future activity and eruptions in the next 24 hours are still likely to occur. I'm advised that those who will be deployed to the island which will include members of the police disaster victim identification team will encounter serious physical and chemical hazards. It is a contaminated site that requires the utmost precautions and police need to prepare for the conditions to ensure their people understand the risks and can do their job safely.Ginny Andersen: What advice has he received from police about the victim identification process?Hon STUART NASH: Since yesterday it has been confirmed that six people are now confirmed deceased eight people are unaccounted for and up to 25 people of the 31 patients in specialist burn units have critical injuries. Police and Health and others are moving as fast and as carefully as they can. Post-mortem examinations are being carried out in Auckland today by specialist forensic pathologists. Disaster victim identification is extremely difficult in cases like this where there are serious burns. Sadly visual identification is not possible. It is poor practice to rely on visual identification alone. There have been cases of mistaken identity in the past when visual identity has been solely relied on. It is always a challenge when there is a mass fatality event. We want to reunite families with the bodies of their loved ones as soon as we can.