New Zealand calls off search for final victims of volcano disaster

The two missing people are local tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman and Australian teenager Winona Langford

The search for two bodies believed to have washed out to sea after the volcano eruption on White Island has been called off, say authorities in New Zealand.

The decision comes after “extensive shoreline and substantial aerial searches” in the region surrounding the volcano, said local police district commander Superintendent Andy McGregor.

Mr McGregor said: “Sadly no further items of significance have been located. The families of the two missing people have been informed of this decision.”

The bodies of the missing victims are believed to have washed out to sea in a storm soon after the eruption.

47 people were visiting White Island when the volcano erupted on 9 December, killing 13 people initially.

Over two dozen people were hospitalised with severe burns to their bodies after the eruption, but the death toll rose to 19 on Monday as another victim died in hospital.

The two missing people have been identified by police as local tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, 40, and Australian teenager Winona Langford, 17.

Ms Langford’s parents and brother were also on the island at the time. The eruption killed her parents, but her brother has reportedly survived.

Many of those killed and injured were Australian tourists who had been travelling aboard the Royal Carribean cruise ship Ovation of the seas.

Police said they would resume the search if new information surfaces regarding the whereabouts of the bodies.

An investigation into the loss of life caused by the eruption has been opened by the country’s primary health and safety regulator, Worksafe New Zealand.