'The Volcano' Trailer Shows 'Minute-By-Minute' Account of New Zealand Tragedy: Watch

A routine sightseeing trip to a remote volcano island off the coast of New Zealand turned deadly in 2019.

Now, a new documentary from director Rory Kennedy and executive producers Leonardo DiCaprio, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer details the fateful excursion, which resulted in the deaths of 22 tourists.

Through first-hand accounts, The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari chronicles what happened on that day in December 2019, when 47 visitors and guides were trapped "in the epicenter of a boiling pyroclastic surge of toxic dust and ash," according to a synopsis for the film, when the volcano unexpectedly erupted.

"It was a beautiful day, you could feel the heat from the volcano," a member of the excursion says in a voiceover in the new trailer for the film.

Another tourist adds, "From the description, it was a nice easy hike. They didn't make it sound dangerous."

Netflix

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Those who were on the island that day recall an "unbearable" heat that tore through their clothing, and a dire situation that made them doubt whether they would escape with their lives, recalled one honeymooning couple.

Netflix

Complicating the rescue, area authorities were unable to respond at first due to the inherent danger of the situation, so the local community was forced to band together to help those who were caught in the volcano's crosshairs.

Kennedy was able to film the minute-by-minute account thanks in part to cell phone footage, she told Filmmaker magazine.

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"Given the proliferation of cell phones and video cameras, as well as the fact that this was indeed a tourist activity, I believed there had to be footage that would enable me to stay close to the ground, minute-by-minute, and that by structuring the film that way, the sum total of those minutes would add up to something larger," she said.

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The movie also benefits from the input of one survivor who provided 16 minutes of "powerful and heartbreaking, never-before-shared cell phone video and audio," Kennedy said, recorded from the moment the volcano erupted until the moment of rescue.

The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari premieres on Netflix Dec. 16.