He was proudly showing a few of New Zealand’s most lovely sights to six tourists, two believed to be from Australia and four from Britain.
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Five years ago, nine people died when a plane full of skydivers crashed not long after take-off at Fox Glacier.
The crash site is on the island’s west coast, which is a popular tourist area.
Rescue crew board a helicopter to head to the Fox Glacier valley where a helicopter crashed.
Pilots who have worked with him have posted his image as their profile picture on Facebook as a tribute and messages of sympathy are flooding into the pages of family members.
A search and rescue team in the NZCC Rescue Helicopter recovered three of the victims this morning (Sunday) during a brief lull in the bad weather which has beset the area. Officials have been in contact with embassy staff to notify relatives, although formal identification could take a few time.
A shocking photograph had also emerged of the mangled wreckage of a commercial helicopter which crashed in bad weather.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we’re very sorry to hear about the accident”, he said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known and aviation authorities were investigating.
Meanwhile, a UK Foreign Office spokesman was quoted as saying by The Guardian: “We are providing consular assistance to their families at this hard time”.
“The operation is extremely challenging, and the safety of those working at the scene is of paramount importance”, they said.
They were Mitchell Paul Gameren of Queenstown, 28, Andrew Virco of Cambridge in England, 50, Katharine Walker of Cambridge in England, 51, Nigel Edwin Charlton of Hampshire, 66, Cynthia Charlton of Hampshire, 70, Sovannmony Leang of New South Wales, 27, and Josephine Gibson of New South Wales, 29.
‘It is believed two were Australians and four were from the United Kingdom.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said the weather conditions on New Zealand’s South Island were “terrible”.
Peter Northcote, a spokesman for the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, said the helicopter was ferrying tourists at the time of the crash.
Police say teams are on standby awaiting any possible window to get on to the glacier, where a helicopter carrying seven people crashed yesterday.
TAIC has a team of four deployed to Fox Glacier, including two investigators with helicopter pilot and engineering expertise, a consulting helicopter engineering expert, and a liaison and logistics manager.
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“It wouldn’t be a good day to be flying helicopters”, he said.
