A sombre mood has descended over the Fox Glacier community, which was noticeably quieter than usual yesterday.
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All sightseeing tours over the glacier were grounded today to give airspace priority to the recovery operation.
The victims were winched aboard the helicopter, which was unable to land.
A drone would be used to get photographs of the area when the weather permitted. “While we’re determined to return these people to their families, this will be a complex and technical task with an emphasis on the safety of those involved”.
Inspector John Canning said the terrain was treacherous and care had to be taken.
Police are handling the body recovery operation and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand has handed over to them. The most recent crash took place in June this year.
He said: “It wouldn’t be a good day to be flying helicopters”.
Neither the condition of the passengers nor their nationalities were known, Cholewa said.
Seven people have been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash on New Zealand’s Fox Glacier Saturday.
They died along with two Australian tourists and the pilot of the aircraft after it came down on the Fox Glacier, on the country’s South Island, officials said.
A shocking photograph had also emerged of the mangled wreckage of a commercial helicopter which crashed in bad weather.
Neighbour Sharon May, 54, a contract manager for the MOD, said: “They are part of the reason we moved here”.
“It will most likely be helicopter recovery”.
He had returned from Malaysia only a month ago and resumed his “summer job” based at Franz Josef for Alpine Adventures, stepdad Kelly Bray said.
Looking towards Fox Glacier yesterday. “The pilot was a very valued member of our team”, The Guardian reports.
“A helicopter has crashed off Fox Glacier”.
“I am advised that the location and weather conditions at the crash site are hard and full details of the crash are yet to emerge”. The glacier is about 900m wide at that point.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we’re very sorry to hear about the accident”, he said.
Mr Key said there had been substantial changes to make adventure tourism in New Zealand safer in the past four-to-five years, including better auditing and registration procedures. I’m not going to risk any more lives; we’ve lost seven. But, having said that, there needs to be a full investigation.
“We first looked at the house in March and as we were walking back to the auto we saw them, they had just had a log delivery”.
“He was all about cars, family and friends”, Mr Peic said.
Local media said the helicopter was operated by Alpine Adventures, which provides scenic flights and landings on the glacier.
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The names of the Australians and British on board have not been formally identified, with police working with the High Commissions to notify the tourists’ families.
