[ti:Deadly Volcano Erupts in New Zealand] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A volcano burst in New Zealand on Monday, [00:04.04]killing at least five people and leaving many more missing. [00:10.88]News reports said at least 18 people were injured in the eruption of White Island volcano, [00:19.60]about 50 kilometers off New Zealand's main North Island. [00:26.52]Some of the injured suffered severe burns. [00:30.88]About 50 people - including New Zealanders and foreign visitors [00:37.88]- were feared to have been near the volcano [00:41.04]at the time of the eruption, Reuters news agency reported. [00:47.80]Travel groups often make day visits to White Island. [00:53.48]Police said in a statement there were no signs of life on the island [00:59.16]after helicopters and other aircraft carried out search and rescue operations. [01:07.68]"Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive [01:13.36]was rescued at the time of the evacuation," the statement said. [01:20.88]Large clouds of ash and steam could be seen shooting [01:25.48]thousands of meters into the air after the explosion. [01:31.20]The disaster immediately raised questions about why people were permitted to visit White Island. [01:40.48]Scientists had noted a rise in volcanic activity in recent weeks. [01:47.56]The GeoNet agency follows volcano and earthquake activity in New Zealand. [01:55.28]On November 18, it raised the alert level on White Island from 1 to 2. [02:03.48]A level of 5 represents a major eruption. [02:09.04]The agency also said at the time that volcanic tremors had increased from weak to moderate in past weeks. [02:20.32]After the eruption Monday, GeoNet raised the alert level to 4, before dropping it down to 3. [02:30.52]"For volcanic eruptions, it is not large," said Ken Gledhill, who is with the agency. [02:39.32]"But if you were close to that, it is not good." [02:44.60]Ray Cas is a professor in the school of geosciences at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. [02:55.52]In comments published by the Australian Science Media Center, [02:59.72]he described White Island as "a disaster waiting to happen for many years." [03:07.96]He said he believes the island's volcanic activity made it too dangerous for daily group visits. [03:17.24]Internet cameras operated by GeoNet showed that at least one group of visitors [03:23.96]were near White Island's crater minutes before it erupted. [03:29.68]The webcam, along with three others, [03:32.88]captures and broadcasts images of the volcano over the internet every 10 minutes. [03:42.12]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM