Credits: Newshub. 'People talk about a new normal after catastrophic events happen. Waghorn and Milbank were walking back to the wharf with their group when White Island unleashed. At the time of the eruption, New Zealand police said 47 people were on the tiny island, off the east coast of the North Island. 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Having bared the brunt of the 300C gas that erupted from the volcano Mr Millbank said it was the things he had once taken for granted that were now most special to him. White Island eruption survivors Matt and Lauren Urey had no way of knowing their choice in clothing the day of the eruption would shape the rest of their lives. It was only thanks to the efforts of nearby tourists and several local pilots that survivors made it off the island alive on 9 December 2019. New Zealand volcano eruption leaves survivors with extensive burns . Just, so many people, it's your worst nightmare as a paramedic to be overwhelmed or under-resourced and not able to help more," St John paramedic Chrissie Nairn said. Jesse (back) with his father Anthony (left) and sister Winona (right), whose body was never recovered from the island, A memorial service for Anthony, Kristine and Winona Langford was held in Sydney in January, Mourners embrace during the memorial service at Marist College North Shore. The volcano eruption not only left her with third-degree burns to 70 per cent of her body but also without part of her fingers, Stephanie Browitt (left, right), 23, told friends earlier this month that time has not made the White Island volcano eruption any easier. The eruption - which happened off the coast of Whakatane on New Zealand's North Island - saw tourists trapped on the island, unable to outrun the plumes of acidic gas and ash that surrounded them. 'It took a while for it to sink in and then she just kept saying she can’t believe they had died,' a family spokesperson said in the days after Mrs Dallow woke up. It just hurts more and more when I think about how much time has passed since I was last with my dad and sister. A Kiwi woman who survived the Whakaari White Island eruption has shared her terrifying and courageous story on camera for the first time. Just that they hadn't come back.'. A woman whose son was killed in a volcanic eruption in New Zealand a year ago said that as she ... Top News Videos for white island eruption survivors. Her husband Gavin, 53, and daughter Zoe Hosking, 15, were killed on the island. "It wasn't really what I asked for," Mr Milbank told A Current Affair on the eve of the first anniversary of the disaster. White Island tour guide survivor Jake Milbank opens up about long road back to recovery. On the tortuous journey home to the mainland, they were kept conscious by other passengers. 21 people died as a result of the White Island eruption. New Zealand remembers volcano tragedy. 'Of course I was frightened a little bit... but it all came down to that fight or flight kind of thing,' he said. The 48-year-old blacked out shortly after the eruption and was placed in an induced coma, before being eventually transported to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne. 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