E Squadron of New Zealand's Special Air Service is known for their quiet professionalism when deployed to combat in Afghanistan, but when a volcano erupted on White Island the SAS found itself sent into the most difficult terrain imaginable on a seemingly impossible mission.
White Island is located on the northern tip of New Zealand and is one of the country's most active volcanos. A popular site for for tourists, some 47 people were on the island when it erupted, with one tour group having walked right up to the rim. Most were evacuated off the island, but eight were killed, their remains trapped on an island that scientists warned could erupt again at any moment.
The SAS was called in to perform the recovery operation, specifically E Squadron which specializes in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). These EOD members go through an extensive training process and are kept on standby to respond on short notice to assist the police with bomb disposal. They are also tasked with the counter Weapons of Mass Destruction mission as well.
Deployed to White Island, the E Squadron members wore three layers of protective suits, with oxygen tanks that allowed them to breathe in a hostile environment of volcanic gas and ash. Despite being a battle-hardened group of soldiers, highly trained and physically fit, they didn't complete the mission on their first go. The eight-man element trudged across the volcanic landscape for an hour and a half before becoming exhausted and returning to their boat. "Our thoughts were, we can't not do it," a team member named Matt said. Adding two more members to their team, they set out on foot to make a second attempt.
Initially, they walked across the hardened magma crust but as they neared the edge of the volcano they struggled through waist-deep sludge. "It was unbelievable, not a condition we train for or ever expect to operate in, it's just so much hotter than you could expect," Matt recalled. They managed to locate and recover six of the eight bodies they were looking for.
"There's been a sense of sadness too, for all the team, and that's been really hard, it's affected everyone," Matt explained.