Two teenage brothers with ties to Chicago are among at least seven people who died after a volcano erupted on New Zealand’s White Island, and their parents remain unaccounted for, officials said Wednesday.
Matthew Hollander, 13, and Berend Hollander, 16, died after being taken to a hospital following the explosion Monday that sent steam and ash 12,000 feet into the air. They had been touring the island with their parents Martin Hollander, 48, and Barbara Hollander, 50, who were still listed as missing.
Martin Hollander is an investment director from Sydney, Australia, who held at least two jobs in Chicago, according to his LinkedIn page. His wife, Barbara, grew up in the the north suburbs, records indicate. Both their sons were born in the Chicago area. Several years ago, the family moved to the Sydney area, where the boys attended Knox Grammar School in a north suburb.
“It is with the greatest sadness that I can confirm that Matthew Hollander and Berend (known as ‘Ben’) Hollander have passed away in hospital as a result of injuries sustained in the White Island volcano eruption,” the school’s headmaster said in a letter to parents. “Please take some time to reflect on the lives of Matthew and Ben and this devastating loss for our community.”
At least seven people have been confirmed dead and seven more are believed to have died. The volcano vented more steam and mud Wednesday, forcing authorities to delay plans to recover bodies. At least 30 people are hospitalized, at least two dozen in critical condition.
New Zealand police have released a partial list of people still missing, saying they have been unable to speak with the families of those feared caught up in the eruption. The Red Cross, however, has released a fuller list of 20 people that included the Hollanders.
Jeff Richmond, his wife and family live in Northbrook and were longtime neighbors of the Hollanders before they moved back to Australia about five years ago when Martin Hollander accepted a new business management position.
“They were a great family,” said Richmond, 61. “It was very disturbing to learn what happened.”
They heard the news from one of their four sons, Charlie, who babysat the boys and often played sports in the backyard with them. “Charlie loved playing with the boys because they played baseball and Charlie had played. So he taught them baseball and played catch and all that,” Richmond said. “The boys were very nice, always active and always outdoors. They were very pleasant people.”
Martin and Barbara always pitched in to help with neighborhood block parties and kept up Aussie traditions. “They were refreshing,” Richmond said. “He had the typical Aussie accent and ate Vegemite.”
Before they moved away, they’d been in the neighborhood for nearly seven years. Richmond and other neighbors threw a going-away party for them. “It’s just very strange how something like that could happened to a whole family.”
The boys’ headmaster in Australia, Scott James, described Matthew as a “vibrant member of the Class of 2023.”
The 13-year-old was involved in the Australian Army Cadets and was on the school’s basketball, squash and debating teams. “Matthew had a close circle of friends and was popular amongst his peers,” James wrote. “He was always enthusiastic about life and was actively involved in school and year group activities.”
His older brother Ben also played sports, “his biggest passion baseball,” James said. He also played in the Australian Football League and was a member of the Australian Army Cadets and the CRU, a Christian faith-based club. “Berend’s engaging smile and quirky sense of humor has made him a good mate to his close group of friends and a welcome member to every classroom,” the school said.
Police believe 47 visitors were on the island at the time of the eruption, 24 of them Australian, nine Americans, five New Zealanders and others from Germany, Britain, China and Malaysia. Many were passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.
Survivors ran into the sea to escape the scalding steam and ash and emerged covered with burns, said those who first helped them. Geoff Hopkins watched the eruption from a boat after visiting the island and told the New Zealand Herald the eruption quickly turned menacing.
He told the paper that injured people transported on their boat were horrifically burned on their exposed skin and even under their clothes.
The first confirmed death was of a local man, Hayden Marshall-Inman, a guide who had shown tourists around the island. Former Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne said Marshall-Inman was a keen fisherman and well-liked.
In the town touted as the gateway to White Island, the volcano has an almost mystical significance, its regular puffing a feature of the landscape. Whether the island, also known by its Maori name Whakaari, will ever host tourists again remains uncertain.
Many people were questioning why tourists were allowed to visit the island after seismic monitoring experts raised the volcano’s alert level last month.
The island had been mined for sulfur until a 1914 accident in which at least 10 people were killed, and a landslide destroyed the miners’ village and the mine itself. The island became a private scenic reserve in 1953.
Daily tours allow more than 10,000 people to visit every year.
The Associated Press contributed.
