Helicopter crash victims’ bodies removed

Nine people – five New Zealanders and tourists from Australia, England, Ireland and Germany died – when a skydiving plane crashed shortly after take-off at Fox Glacier airport in 2010.

Iain McGregor/FairfaxNZ The 13km long Fox Glacier valley where a helicopter crashed on Saturday killing a local pilot and six tourists draws visitors from around the world.

Fox Glacier is on the remote west coast of New Zealand’s South Island and is visited by thousands of tourists each year.

The wreckage of the helicopter was located inside a crevasse on Fox Glacier, but hard terrain made it hard for rescuers to reach it, 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.

Authorities are liaising with the Australian and British embassies though formal identification is expected to take a few time.

The helicopter crashed at about 11 a.m. on the popular tourist destination on New Zealand’s South Island.

It is thought that the flight was operated by Alpine Adventures.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission is investigating the crash.

The Foreign Office said it was providing consular assistance to the British victims’ families “at this hard time”.

The names of seven people who perished when a helicopter plunged into a glacier in New Zealand have been released. Police said the rugged terrain was making the operation “extremely challenging”.

Prime Minister John Key said the crash was “obviously very tragic”, and he had passed his condolences for the loss of the Australians’ lives to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull when he met him last night.

A cold front was moving through the region at the time of the crash, AccuWeather Meteorologist Robert Richards said.

The New Zealand pilot Mitch Gameren, who was 28, also died.

Poor weather conditions on Sunday morning were making it hard for recovery teams to access the site of a fatal helicopter crash on the Fox Glacier.

TAIC engineering expertise was also being used to plan how best to secure a few pieces of wreckage while victim recovery work took place nearby.

He said: “It wouldn’t be a good day to be flying helicopters”.

Police say teams are on standby awaiting any possible window to get on to the glacier, where a helicopter carrying seven people crashed yesterday.