It is feared that four British people and two Australians were among seven people to have died after a helicopter crashed into a glacier in New Zealand.
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But police have confirmed the dead include two Australians and four people from the United Kingdom. The names of the six passengers have yet to be released.
The sightseeing helicopter plunged into the Fox Glacier, a popular tourist site on the west coast of the South Island, with weather conditions reported to be heavily overcast and raining at the time.
The wreckage of a helicopter was located inside a crevasse on Fox Glacier, but rescuers were unable to reach it due to the hard terrain, police said in a statement.
A break in the weather on Sunday allowed police teams to recover three of the bodies, which have been taken to a temporary mortuary in Fox Glacier township.
The pilot, Mitch Gameren, 28, had only recently returned to New Zealand after flying medevac missions in Malaysia. They said they would make another attempt to recover the bodies later.
Mr Nolan understood police were helping the victims’ families liaise with the Australian and British embassies.
The paramedic team has already reached the incident scene using a winch to lower themselves from the rescue helicopter.
He said it was too soon to know what might have caused the crash, but police, the Civil Aviation Authority and Transport Accident Investigation Commission were investigating.
On Saturday, the UK’s Foreign Office confirmed four Britons had died, and said it was helping their families.
The helicopter that crashed is believed to be a Eurocopter “Squirrel” operated by local firm Alpine Adventures. We are comforting family, friends and staff in what is a very hard time’.
A cold front was moving through the region at the time of the crash, AccuWeather Meteorologist Robert Richards said.
The surface of the glacier around the wreckage site is steep in places and investigation staff will, for their own safety, in many places need to be attached by climbing rope to alpine rescue team members.
“We’re hurting. It’s a real tragedy today”.
Mr Gameren’s sister, Brooke, shared an old photo of him on Facebook with the comment “I love you heaps, Mitch Gameren”.
The 13-kilometre (eight-mile) long Fox Glacier is listed as one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, attracting thousands of tourists each year.
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Nolan said the company took its safety very seriously and yesterday’s crash was the first time a life had been lost in the more than 20 years he had worked with the company.
