Crews land on NZ glacier to recover bodies

Crews land on NZ glacier to recover bodies

Recovery teams have managed to land on New Zealand’s Fox Glacier to try and recover the remaining three bodies from a helicopter crash.

Alpine Cliff Rescue, police and drone operators landed on the glacier just after 11am local time on Wednesday, police say.

The 12 people included disaster victim identification staff, Inspector John Canning said.

“I don’t know long the weather’s going to hold but we are making the most of it while we can.”

Six tourists, including two Australians, and the New Zealand pilot were killed when the tourist flight crashed into the West Coast glacier on Saturday.

The bodies of three women and a man have so far been recovered, but bad weather has hampered efforts to retrieve the remaining bodies.

The victims have been named as Australians Leang Sovannmony, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29; Britons Andrew Virco, 50, Katharine Walker, 51, Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, and Cynthia Charlton, 70; and pilot Mitchell Paul Gameren, 28.

Police have not yet said whose bodies have been recovered.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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