These heroes deserve the highest honour we give out in New Zealand.
it was super gassy … consistently the ash was falling, the helicopter was covered in it, we were covered in it.
trying to carry people through distances and put them into helicopters…
Whakaari eruption.

I read about those guys over here. What beautiful brave people. They wanted to go back and rescue those who passed straight away but were held up by red tape. I wonder if they have now. I find it hard to read news like that so I stopped and sent prayers. ❤️

It’s still unfathomable to me that this tragedy happened. We can only be thankful for heroes like these otherwise the toll may have been much higher.

@hollyhoneychurch The story brought tears to my eyes too. I don't think it was so much red tape that stopped anyone as the problem of flying into an active volcano. By a second trip the chance of anyone still being alive would have been almost zero and the chance of being brought down nearly 100%.

this helicopter pilot wanted to go back in straight away. To retrieve bodies. He really wanted to do it. But they said no. It made him angry. As he thought he could do it.

@hollyhoneychurch Yeah. That's not really red tape though but a risk assessment. Anyway, thank the stars for the heroes they were, flying right into the teeth of extreme danger to save lives.