New Zealand Police said Wednesday that they are scaling down their search efforts for the bodies of two people missing after last week's volcanic eruption as they may never be found.
Forty-seven tourists were on White Island, known locally as Whakaari, when it erupted Dec. 9.
On Friday, a mission was conducted to retrieve the bodies of eight people, presumed dead, from the island, of which six were returned. However, Australian Winona Langford, 17, and New Zealander tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, 40, remained missing.
On Wednesday, deputy police commissioner John Tims said in a statement that the search mission was being handed over to local authorities.
"It is the considered view of experts that those bodies have been washed out to sea following a significant weather event on the island the night of the eruption," Tims said. "There is no guarantee their bodies will be located and police recognize the immense pain this must cause their families."
He said police haven't given up but that with the chances of finding the bodies diminishing, the recovery operation would change.
"We have always had an expectation of ourselves and others that all bodies would be recovered so it's both disappointing and frustrating to be in this position," he said.
During an earlier press conference, police deputy commissioner Mike Clement said the two bodies had been seen near a stream but a significant weather event occurred the night after the eruption and that it's his "strong view" that they were washed out to sea.
He said a body of a male believed to be Marshall-Inman was seen on Dec. 11 but a police boat could not get close enough to retrieve it.
"Despite our best efforts, we weren't able to get [the body] before it went down again," he said.
On Tuesday, New Zealand Police identified the 16 people who died and the two people missing in connection to the volcano's eruption.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
