A family from Chicago is listed as missing after a deadly volcano eruption in New Zealand this week

A mother and two sons from Chicago, along with the boys' Australian-born father, are among those unaccounted for after the eruption of a volcano on New Zealand’s White Island this week, authorities said.

Matthew Hollander, 13, Berend Hollander, 16, and their parents Martin Hollander, 48, and Barbara Hollander, 50, were touring the island when the volcano exploded Monday, sending steam and ash 12,000 feet into the air.

Six people have so far been confirmed dead and eight more are believed to have died. The volcano vented more steam and mud Wednesday, prompting authorities to delay plans to recover bodies. At least 30 people are hospitalized, 25 of those are 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 list of 20 people unaccounted for, including the Hollanders.

Martin Hollander is an investment director from Sydney, Australia who has 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.

The family moved to the Sydney area, where the boys attend Knox Grammar School in a north suburb.

“It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm that a Knox family is currently unaccounted for in the White Island volcano eruption in New Zealand,” the school’s headmaster wrote parents.

Berend Hollander is part of sports and co-curricular activities at the school, the school wrote in a statement. His biggest passion is baseball but he also was developing a passion for the Australian Football League, Australian Army Cadets and CRU, which is a Christian faith-based club. He is also known as a compassionate and enthusiastic student with an interest in software design.

“Berend’s engaging smile and quirky sense of humour has made him a good mate to his close group of friends and a welcome member to every classroom,” the school said.

Matthew Hollander is also involved in the Cadets program and part of the school’s basketball, squash and debate teams, the school said. He was elected as a mentor representative for the 2018-2019 school year.

“With a close circle of friends, Matt has been popular amongst his peers. Matthew has always been enthusiastic about life and involved in many school and year group activities,” the school said.

Relatives of the family in the Chicago area could not be reached.

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 in 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 Tribune’s Jessica Villagomez and the Associated Press contributed

___

(c)2019 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.