New Zealand marks one year since volcanic eruption killed 22

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A woman whose son was killed in a volcanic eruption in New Zealand a year ago said that as she stood crying, wailing and calling out his name on a beach soon afterward, a stranger came up to her and held her.

“To this day, I do not know who that lady was,” said Avey Woods during a televised service held Wednesday in the town of Whakatane to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy. “I hope she's listening, because that just shows you what a community we are, and how powerful that felt that day."

Woods' 40-year-old son Hayden Marshall-Inman was a tour guide and among 22 people killed in the Dec. 9, 2019, eruption on White Island. The island had been a popular tourist destination and 47 people were visiting when superheated steam spewed out from the crater floor. Most of those who survived suffered horrific burns.

Woods said she continues to go to the beach each day to remember her son.

“No-one can tell us how to grieve,” Woods said. “Because we grieve in our own time. And I believe that no-one ever gets over the loss of a loved one. You go through so many emotions. It's shock, denial, tears, pain, anger, depression."

Many people now question why tourists were ever allowed to visit the island, especially after experts monitoring seismic activity had raised the volcano’s alert level two weeks before the eruption.

New Zealand authorities last month filed safety violation charges against 10 organizations and three individuals in relation to the eruption. The charges brought by New Zealand’s WorkSafe agency are separate from an ongoing police investigation that could result in more charges. And families of some of those killed and injured have also filed their own lawsuits.

But Wednesday's service was a time for those who...