The helicopter is said to have crashed at around 11 AM New Zealand local time on Saturday on the glacier. I am not going to risk any more lives, we have lost already seven people.
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Canning said conditions were too murky and unsafe to consider a recovery operation yesterday.
“Four helicopters have been dispatched to the scene of the crash”.
A cliff rescue team is also on its way to the area.
The company’s website says it operates Hughes 500C and Hughes 500D four-passenger helicopters and Eurocopter “Squirrel ” six-passenger helicopters.
Four rescue helicopters – two from Christchurch, one from Fox Glacier and one from Greymouth – responded to the incident.
“Police can confirm that a pilot and six passengers were on board the helicopter and believe no one has survived the crash”, said a statement as cited by the local Television New Zealand.
It had rained solidly overnight, and for much of this morning, and low cloud made for “poor visibility”.
A police spokeswoman says it’s likely the pilot will be formally named on Sunday but it may be longer before the names of the foreign tourists are released.
A cold front was moving through the region at the time of the crash, AccuWeather Meteorologist Robert Richards said.
A rescue helicopter used a winch to lower a paramedic and an alpine rescue team onto the crash site, said Vince Cholewa, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand.
The cause of the crash is now being investigated.
Glacier Country Tourism Group member Chris Alexander said emergency services had tried “their damnedest” to reach the scene.
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Rescuers found the wreck of the aircraft in a 2,500ft crevasse on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island, but could not reach it because of the hard terrain.
