Whakaari: Eruption on White Island | A Perfect Day | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On December 9, 2019, 47 tourists and guides set off to visit New Zealand’s most active volcano — Whakaari / White Island — located 30 miles off the country’s north coast. Visitors are amazed as they hike up to the edge of the blue lake at its center, and peer down into the steaming mouth of the crater. But on their way back down, awe turns to horror when the volcano suddenly erupts and blasts a wave of super-heated ash and steam right at them.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.7	A listener note. Against the odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:15.4	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:20.3	Wondry. dialogue may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:36.3	19-year-old Jesse Langford adjusts his gas mask and peers into the mouth of the White Island volcano. Some 20 feet down is a wide pool of
0:41.2	steaming acid. It looks like a gateway to the underworld. He hears one of the tour guides repeat
0:48.5	a warning he issued earlier. Remember, the air here is too toxic to breathe for long, even with a mask.
0:57.0	We need to head back to the boat soon. So if you want a photo, make it quick.
1:02.0	Jesse motions to his parents and sister to gather around him.
1:06.0	He holds up his phone and looks at the image of the four of them on the little screen. Each of them
1:12.1	is wearing a yellow hard hat, a gas mask, and sunglasses. Their faces are so obscured, it's hard
1:19.5	to make out their smiles. It's December 9th, 2019, and the Langford family is on a small
1:27.2	island off the coast of New Zealand.
1:29.8	They're in the middle of a 12-day cruise that started from their home in Sydney, Australia.
1:35.5	And today, they've gotten the chance to see what few people get to witness, an active volcano.
1:42.5	Around them, other tourists are taking selfies too.
1:46.0	Someone makes a joke about going for a swim in the acid lake.
1:50.0	And there's a round of chuckles.
1:53.0	Jesse takes the photo of his family and then watches as his sister and parents
1:57.0	start making their way down the rocky slope toward the shore. He takes one last look back at the steaming pool below and then follows them.
2:06.6	It's time to get back on the catamaran for the 90-minute trip to the mainland,
	...

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