Weather hampers New Zealand alpine crash recovery as bodies identified

New Zealand’s West Coast Police has said formal identification of the victims “will take a few time”, as the weather means the recovery operation is extremely challenging.

Two British couples were among seven people killed when a helicopter crashed into a glacier in New Zealand.

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.

A rescue team confirmed there were no survivors and it may take several days to recover the bodies, according to the Mail Online.

A drone would be used to get photographs of the area when the weather permitted.

He had returned from Malaysia only a month ago and resumed his “summer job” based at Franz Josef for Alpine Adventures.

‘It wouldn’t be a good day to be flying helicopters, ‘ he said. He said a team of investigators was planning to survey the scene.

The Australian tourists believed to be on on board were Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29 both of New South Wales.

The Squirrel helicopter crashed around 11am Saturday.

Kokshoorn, the mayor, said he expects authorities finish a comprehensive investigation in the latest crash to make sure that the industry is not risky and that tourists can have assurance that operators will make the right call in bad conditions. Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said her sympathies were with the victims’ families.

Inspector John Canning talking about the Fox Glacier chopper crash.

The recovery operation has been hampered by bad weather, but is expected to resume on Sunday, said local police. We hope to get up there and recover the bodies as soon as we can.

The clouds are still hanging low over Fox Glacier tonight, and for the Gameren family there is now the agonising wait for their beloved Mitch to be brought home.

Gameren was brought up in Queenstown and had flown in Botswana for three years.

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.