journalist

Port Vila Municipal Council Town Clerk, Peter Sakita confirmed to the national broadcaster VBTC that Binihi passed away at Vila Central Hospital.

Binihi, who was from Paama/Pentecost, began his career in the media industry in 1985.

Over the years, he worked at the VBTC, Vanuatu Daily Post and Vanuatu Weekly.

At the time of his death, Binihi was the municipal council’s Public Relations Officer.

Instead she found herself dealing with an unexpected pregnancy and raising her daughter alone in a rented one-room apartment.

Little did she know that years later she would be part of a national team serving the nation - not as a doctor, but as a journalist.

"Life was hard," she says of her time as a young mother.

"I wanted to study but I had other responsibilities."

With her parents' support, Leah enrolled in the Vanuatu Institute of Technology (VIT) and completed a diploma in journalism.

The crew, along with a number of tourists, were drawn to Etna in Sicily to observe the spectacle of the active volcano erupting but were caught by surprise when flowing magma hit thick snow, causing an explosion that caused rock and other material to rain down upon them.

Volcanic rocks and steam from the eruption injured at least 10 people, witnesses and media reported, and the network's science reporter who was on assignment on Etna, Rebecca Morelle, described the experience in a series of tweets.