Mount Ruapehu, at 2,797 metres high, is the highest point on New Zealand's North Island. One of the largest active volcanoes in New Zealand, it is part of Tongariro National Park. On Christmas Eve 1953, a lahar, or flow of rock, mud, water and other volcanic debris, swept down the valley towards the railway bridge … Continue reading December 24, 1953 – 151 die in New Zealand as an express train plunges off a damaged bridge