White Island eruption: Video unearthed of tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman speaking of his fears

Hayden Marshall-Inman was an experienced guide for White Island Tours. Photo / Facebook

KEY POINTS:

• Six people now confirmed dead, grim task of autopsies and formal identification continues today
• Eight people remain missing on the island, presumed dead
• 30 are in hospital - 24 are in four regional burns units and the other six will be transferred as soon as possible
• Three patients have been discharged
• 47 people were on or near the island when the volcano erupted on Monday afternoon - 24 were Australian, nine were from the United States, five were Kiwis, four were Germans, two were Chinese and one was Malaysian

Newly unearthed video shows White Island tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman sharing his fears about working on the active volcano.

Marshall-Inman, who died in Monday's eruption and was the first victim to be identified, appears in the video shot by a tourist in 2018.

Telling a group of tourists about the risks of the island, Marshall-Inman says: "Last September is the most nervous I've ever been. There was an ash eruption, I could definitely feel the nerves inside me for sure."

The short video shows Marshall-Inman talking to a tourist as he heads toward Whakaari/White Island in a small boat.

Marshall-Inman loved taking tour groups to Whakaari and had been doing it for 15 years.

His brother said: "He died doing what he loved."

He's been remembered as "the biggest guy with the biggest heart" and "one of the nicest blokes I'll ever know".

Another friend posted on Facebook: "There was not a more genuine, kind, loving soul on this planet than Hayden.

"Completely devastating and my heart goes out to the Inman family."

Kind hearted gesture

Every week, Hayden Marshall-Inman would leave $5 behind as a pay-it-forward at his local Four Square supermarket.

It was a simple gesture but one that will now forever stick with staff at the Ōhope Store after he died in Monday's volcanic eruption at Whakaari/White Island.

The White Island Tours skipper was one of 13 thought to have died in the eruption, which has also affected people from around the world.

Among those injured, some with life-threatening burns, are tourists from the United States, UK, Australia, China, Germany and Malaysia.

In Marshall-Inman's home town of Ōhope Beach, Claire and Aaron Blair, owners of the Four Square Supermarket, are how doing their best to honour the popular local.

They've set up cards for locals to leave their condolences and a box to leave a donation for food.

In a post on Facebook, they wrote that anyone who wanted to pass on their sympathies to his family could sign the cards.

"We are also putting some supplies together for the family that a close family friend will take to them tomorrow.

"Hayden is close to our hearts. Every week, he left $5 at the counter to pay for the next person. This has been happening for years so there will be many recipients of his kindness.

"The Inmans are in our thoughts, as well as all the other families and friends of everyone affected by the Whakaari eruption."