Of the 47 people on the island -- a popular tourist attraction -- when the explosion took place, the death toll stands at 17 including the missing pair.
Among those on the island during the cataclysm were tourists from Australia, the United States, Britain, China and Malaysia, as well as their New Zealand guides.
Police said the site was still too dangerous hours later for rescuers to search for the missing
Our study re-analysed the large series of radiocarbon dates for the Taupo eruption and found that the oldest dates were closest to the volcano vent.