The owners of an island volcano in New Zealand where 22 tourists and local guides died in an eruption had their criminal conviction for failing to keep visitors safe overturned by a judge on Friday.

The owners of a New Zealand volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people, have had their conviction over the disaster thrown out by the country's High Court. Whakaari Management Limited (WML) was found guilty in 2023 of failing to keep visitors safe and fined just over NZ$1m ($560,

Notably, 47 people were on Whakaari, also known as White Island, when it erupted in December 2019. It is regarded as New Zealand's most active volcano and has been erupting since 2011 in some form. In the lead-up to the fatal accident, the volcano had been showing signs of heightened unrest.

The ruling absolves the company from paying millions of dollars in restitution to the families of those who died.