REVEALED: US newlyweds who suffered 'burns all over their bodies' in New Zealand volcano miraculously survived by hiding behind giant rock when crater erupted

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US newlyweds who suffered horrific burns in the New Zealand volcano survived by hiding behind a colossal rock just minutes after descending the lethal summit.

Lauren, 32, and Matthew Urey, 36, were among nine Americans caught up in the explosion on Whakaari White Island and were both rushed to hospitals on the mainland.

Matthew's mother Janet Urey boarded a plane from Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon for a flight arranged by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the company with which her son and daughter-in-law had sailed to New Zealand. 

Janet told 21 WFMJ before departing: '(Matthew) told me they had already come down from the volcano when it started to erupt.

'They were able to take some shelter behind a large rock, 10 minutes it could have meant life or death for them, but luckily they were already down the volcano close to the water, so they sheltered themselves a little bit. 

Lauren Urey, 32, and her husband Matthew Urey, 36, had been visiting New Zealand from Richmond, Virginia, and were on Whakaari White Island when it erupted Monday

'They already had been provided with respirators so they didn't breathe in all the ash.'

She added: 'I spoke with (Matthew) this morning. He'd just had surgery last night, about a three-hour surgery. The burns were a little worse than we had hoped, and he's going to need skin graphs and plastic surgery.

'He'll have a repeat surgery in 48 hours, but he was able to talk to me, he's taking fluids and eating a little jello, so stable for now.' 

She added that she was looking forward to seeing her son and giving him a kiss.

On Wednesday, police named another nine people who were still unaccounted for, along with six others already confirmed.

Whakaari also known as White Island, 48km (29mi) located off New Zealand's North Island, erupted around 2.11pm local time on Monday blowing huge plumes of smoke and debris 12,000 ft into the sky 

Half of the 47 visitors on the island when the volcano erupted were Australians and most were from the cruise ship.

Authorities say there were 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders, four Germans, two Britons, two Chinese and a Malaysian on the island when the disaster struck

Janet Urey spoke to 21 WFMJ before heading off to New Zealand on Tuesday

On Tuesday, concerned mother Barbara Barham said she received a troubling message from her son-in-law Matthew, which said 'there had been a volcano eruption and they were burned very bad.'

'He said he would try to call as soon as he could, but talking and making phone calls was difficult' Barham told The Washington Post. 'His hands were so badly burned it was hard for him to make a phone call.'

Barham said Matthew claimed in his message that he and Lauren were being taken to hospital, however the families haven't heard from either of them directly since.

'Obviously, I'm panicking,' Barham told the newspaper. 'I don't know how to act. I feel like I should be crying, but I can't even cry.'

Barham said she had no idea of the horror unfolding on the other side of the world on Monday, or that her daughter was involved in the chaos. She said she was alerted when Royal Caribbean called her just after midnight to tell her the newlyweds hadn't returned to their cruise ship after their volcano tour. 

Concerned mother Barbara said she received a troubling message from her son-in-law Matthew, which said 'there had been a volcano eruption and they were burned very bad'

An Auckland Hospital representative later told the worried mother that Lauren was in surgery, with the new bride having suffered severe burns covering at least 20 per cent of her body.

Meanwhile Matthew was airlifted to a hospital in Christchurch to treat burns to 80 per cent of his body.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that among the eight people currently missing are more tourists from the US, as well as Australia, China, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

However reconnaissance flights over White Island have so far yielded 'no signs of life', with the death toll expect to rise in the coming days.

'Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation,' Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said during a press conference. 'Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island.'

Ardern confirmed that 31 of the people who were rescued from White Island remain in hospital and three others have already been discharged.

'To those who have lost or are missing family and friends we share in your unfathomable grief in this moment and time,' Ardern said of the families of the dead, adding that a number of survivors are currently in a critical condition, with burns the most prominent injury.

'For now, our duty is to return loved ones…the focus has be on those who are...critically injured and, of course, what is now a recovery mission,' she added.

Rescuers have so-far been unable to get on to the island due to fears of landslides and further eruptions, but said a number of rescue helicopters and other aircraft had carried out aerial reconnaissance flights overnight.

Officers said a New Zealand naval ship will approach the shore and deploy drones and 'observational equipment' to scour the island as soon as the sun comes up.

Barham said she had no idea of the horror unfolding on the other side of the world, or that her daughter was involved in the chaos. She said she was alerted when Royal Caribbean called her just after midnight to tell her the newlyweds hadn't returned to their cruise ship after the volcano tour

At least six people died in the eruption, 18 have been rescued with injuries - including severe burns - while an estimated 27 are still missing, with rescuers unable to get on to the island 

Tourist Michael Schade said he and his family were on the volcano just 20 minutes before it erupted and witnessed the blast as they were leaving the island (pictured)

The White Island Tour operators are seen helping to rescue people from the island, about 12 to 14 minutes after the eruption

White Island is New Zealand's most active volcano and had seen its last major eruption in 2001, with smaller events over the years until now.

'It just looked like what you see of a nuclear bomb going off, is what it looked like, kind of was turning into a mushroom cloud,' Dan Harvey, a commercial fisherman who was out at sea at the time of the eruption, told Radio New Zealand. 'The way it just expanded around itself and just went straight up into the sky.'

Officials said it's unlikely the volcano will erupt again in the next 24 hours but have warned people to stay away from the area.

An Auckland Hospital representative later told Barham that Lauren was in surgery, with the new bride having suffered severe burns covering at least 20 percent of her body. Meanwhile Matthew was airlifted to a hospital in Christchurch to treat burns to 80 percent of his body

Family members of the couple are currently making arrangements to fly to New Zealand and visit them in the hospital

Police say that everyone who could have been taken off the island alive was saved at the time, and anyone left on the island after the initial eruption has died 

Tourists desperately scramble on to a boat to evacuate the island after the eruption, shortly after 2pm local time

So far, authorities have offered few details on the identities of those killed and missing, other than confirming their nationalities. It's currently unclear how many American tourists are either dead or still missing. 

San Francisco tourist Michael Schade had just left White Island and was eating lunch on a tour boats when the volcano suddenly erupted.

'It went from nothing going on to it erupting,' he told the station, describing how he watched on as crew on the boat ordered everyone inside and sped away from the dock.

After a few minutes, the boat returned to the dock to rescue people stranded on the pier.

Schade said the group boarded the boat with a range of injuries, including varying severity of burns. Crew and passengers worked together to gather water, medicine and clothing to use as bandages and blankets.

'There was one woman in particular that my mom stayed with and she just had a hard time all together staying awake,' he told NBC. 'For other people, it was just trying to soothe their burns as best you could without making it worse.'

Footage captured by government earthquake agency GeoNet shows groups of people walking near the rim of the volcano inside the crater, where white smoke was constantly bellows at a low level.

One of the tour helicopters was left behind because of such low visibility after the eruption - which pushed ash and smoke into the air. Schade said the helicopters on the island 'looked destroyed'

White Island, 48km from the Bay of Plenty region, began erupting about 2.11pm local time

Handout images from a webcam belonging to the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences shows the volcano on New Zealand's White Island spewing steam and ash

An aerial view of the volcano shows thick smoke billowing from the crater, which has been a permanent feature of the island for decades

At 2:00pm the crater rim camera, which takes images every 10 minutes, captured a group of people standing right at the edge of the rim. At 2:10pm, just a minute before the eruption, the group can be seen walking away, following a common track across the crater.

It remains unclear whether the group, said to be made up of a dozen people, had been told to evacuate or whether they were just continuing the tour, unaware of the peril that lay ahead.

The next shot taken at 2.20pm was unreadable as the blast had rendered the camera inoperable.

'It was not a particularly big eruption, it was almost like a throat clearing eruption and that's why material probably won't make it to mainland New Zealand,' Dr Ken Gledhill said.

'We can't be certain it won't erupt again in the next 24 hours,' he said.

The island is frequently visited by tourists as part of organised boat tours from nearby Whakatane.

Geological hazard trackers GeoNet had registered moderate volcanic unrest on the island for weeks.

But the nature of volcano activity is unpredictable, with the eruption unforeseen by authorities.

A person wrapped in a blanket is comforted by emergency services personnel following an eruption of the White Island volcano

Emergency services attend to an injured person arriving at the Whakatane Airfield after the volcanic eruption

'A disaster waiting to happen': Experts say tourist trips to White Island volcano were 'too dangerous'

White Island was always 'too dangerous' for the number of tourists visiting the island, experts have said, as they warned of risks of further blasts and landslides.

Emeritus Professor Ray Cas, from Monash University, branded the island - also known by its Maori name Whakaari - 'a disaster waiting to happen for many years'.

'I have always felt that it was too dangerous to allow the daily tour groups that visit the uninhabited island volcano by boat and helicopter,' he said. 

In 1914, a small mining community on the island was wiped out after falling rocks weakened by the island's volcanic activity swept through the village. 

The violent volcanic eruption on New Zealand's white Island was caused because ocean crust is being subducted (pictured, the series of events leading to the spontaneous eruption).  This constant movement means sudden explosions can occur at any moment 

Mining activity was subsequently banned and the island has been uninhabited now for more than a century, but is a hotspot for tourists hoping to get close to an active volcano.

Large volcanic events such as the White Island eruption can often cause subsequent disasters.

GeoNet, New Zealand's geological hazard information centre, describes White Island as New Zealand's most active cone volcano. Only the top is visible, with around 80 per cent of it underwater.

Rescuers have been unable to visit the island in the wake of the disaster in order to search for survivors and victims, saying it is still too dangerous.

Explaining the dangers, Chris Elders, professor of Geology at Curtin University's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, told MailOnline: 'This may be a combination of the ash in the atmosphere that would affect any helicopters.

'Also, when you get an eruption like this, the ash deposits very quickly and creates rocks which are extremely unstable.

'Any rainfall, which can be triggered by the ash sent into the atmosphere, could cause a landslide if the unstable rocks come loose.'

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