Feature image: Instagram/@sylvain_plasse

A passenger of the Ovation of the Seas has described the horrific moment the White Island volcano erupted.

It’s believed three Australians are among the dead and another eight are unaccounted for after the volcano disaster in New Zealand on Monday.

Authorities have confirmed five deaths after the eruption off the coast of New Zealand’s north island and say another eight people are still on the island, believed to be dead.

Of the 47 people who were on the island at the time, 24 were Australians – aged between 17 and 72 – travelling on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship.

Sylvain Plasse was one of the passengers travelling on the ship. He tells Luke Grant when he first saw the eruption from a distance while climbing a nearby mountain, he thought he was lucky to witness such an incredible event.

But when he returned to the ship and was told people were trapped on the island, he felt incredibly guilty.

“It felt like somebody just took my heart and ripped it out of me.

“I felt so awful. It was an incredible feeling just to go from so much joy of having such a great day in a beautiful, gorgeous place, to going down to this.

“It’s been inexplainable.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

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