A BADLY burned teenager currently in a coma will wake up and find out his entire family was killed during the White Island eruption.
Jesse Langford, 19, from Sydney, Australia is currently in Royal North Shore Hospital with 90 per cent burns covering his body.
He went on the 12-day Ovation of the Seas cruise with his mum Kristine, sister Winona and dad Anthony, to celebrate his dad's 51st birthday.
They decided to take a day trip to White Island on December 9 when disaster struck.
His parents were killed at around 2pm as the volcano suddenly erupted, sending 12,000ft plumes of smoke and rock into the air.
Officials believe his younger sisters body is in the waters around the island. She is presumed dead.
This tragedy is more than any family can or ever should have to go through
His extended family said in a statement: "Jesse is recovering in hospital, receiving excellent care.
"Anthony and Kristine, loving parents to Jesse and Winona, were a wonderful couple and devoted to both their immediate and extended families.
"They will be greatly missed by all who knew them."
A friend of Kristine’s wrote on Facebook on Monday: “Kristine’s mother Carol passed away earlier this year and this tragedy is more than any family can or ever should have to go through.
"Kristine was a sweet person with a big heart and a happy personality and was well loved by many”.
NZ Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement said the Langford family have accepted the possibility that Winona's body was washed away by a 1.5m wave of water and sediment.
They searched the stream three times but aerial imagery has confirmed that their bodies are no longer there.
The eruption has killed at least 16 people and injured 26 others – many of whom have not regained consciousness.
Many of those killed and injured were Australians on a day tour from the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship, the 16-deck Ovation of the Seas.
Plastic surgeon Michelle Locke, who works at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital where eight of the injured are being treated, said those with severe chemical burns will require skin grafts.
Millions of dollars worth of corpse skin has been flown in from the US and Australian to meet the demand.
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Questions have been raised, asking why tourists were still allowed to visit the dangerous active volcano.
Tourists were given gas masks so they could get close to it, despite safety warnings.
The advert to visit the volcano has been pulled by the company since the disaster but a version was found by US-based website Cruise Law News.
It says: “Get close to the drama: Gas masks help you get near roaring steam vents, bubbling pits of mud, hot volcanic streams and the amazing lake of steaming acid.”
Victims who died on White Island
- Richard Aaron Elzer, 32, from Australia
- Barbara Jean Hollander, 49, from US
- Berend Lawrence Hollander, 16, from US
- Matthew Robert Hollander, 13, from US
- Martin Berend Hollander, 48, from Australia
- Julie Richards, 47, from Australia
- Jessica Richards, 20, from Australia
- Krystal Eve Browitt, 21, from Australia
- Tipene Maangi, 24, from New Zealand
- Zoe Ella Hosking, 15, from Australia
- Gavin Brian Dallow, 53, from Australia
- Karla Michelle Mathews, 32, from Australia
- Jason David Griffiths, 33, from Australia
- Kristine Elizabeth Langford, 45, from Australia
- Anthony James Langford, 51, from Australia
- The two people missing are:
- Winona Jane Langford, 17, from Australia
- Hayden Bryan Marshall-Inman, 40, from New Zealand
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