Crew ‘coiled like springs’ awaiting chance to reach bodies on glacier
Recovery crews at Fox Glacier are frustrated by bad weather continuing to put a hold on efforts to retrieve the remaining victims.
Three bodies are still at the scene.
Post-mortem examinations were performed on the bodies of all three female passengers in Christchurch yesterday, along with the body of a man yet to be formally identified.
Queenstown pilot Mitch Gameren, 28, died alongside six tourists when the Alpine Adventures helicopter he was flying on a scenic trip plunged into a deep crevasse in the glacier on Saturday.
The tourists were Andrew Virco, 50, and his partner Katharine Walker, 51, of Cambridge, England; Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, and his wife Cynthia, 70, of Hampshire, England; and Australians Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29.
It is hoped today will bring a long enough break in the weather for crews to access the site, Inspector John Canning said. Yesterday, Mr Canning indicated it might be possible to get a helicopter to the crash site in the afternoon, after a favourable weather forecast. However, that was not the case.
Recovery crews were called off the site on Sunday afternoon, and have been unable to access it since.
They were now “coiled up like springs”, ready to bounce into action as soon as an opportunity presents itself, he said.
The teams want to complete the job for the families, Mr Canning said.
Aoraki-Mt Cook Alpine Rescue, South Westland Alpine Cliff Rescue Team and police victim identification teams are ready to go to the glacier as soon as the weather allows, a police statement said.
Police have also contacted local iwi to prepare for a blessing of the site once the recovery is completed.
Meanwhile, families of the victims are making travel arrangements to Fox Glacier. An Auckland student is heading to Peru to help overcome the obstacles of poverty by hula-hooping her heart out.
On December 7, Maggie Shui, 20, will join a team of 17 Peruvian and international charity workers to attempt to climb more than 6000m in order to break a rather unusual world record — hula hooping at a high altitude.
The team are hoping to raise $10,000 for the aptly named charity Hoop — Helping Overcome Obstacles Peru. It’s a small organisation based in the city of Arequipa, in Peru’s south, which aims to break the cycle of poverty through education, health and social programmes.
“The challenge has really captured the imagination of the public and we have already received a lot of support and good wishes from friends and family back home,” Ms Shui said.
“As well as becoming world record holders, we have an ambitious fundraising goal — with all the money raised going [back] into supporting the project in Flora Tristan.”
To prepare for the challenge, the team had been doing weekly training sessions in hula-hoop techniques, as well as learning how to avoid altitude sickness.
The record attempt will take place on a 6057m peak near Arequipa called Chachani — where oxygen levels are at 50 per cent compared to sea level and high wind speeds add further challenges.
The current record for high altitude hula-hooping was set in 2010 at an altitude of 5895m on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. To support the fundraising campaign, visit www.hoopperu.org/ hulahoop. All funds will go directly into Hoop’s project in Arequipa.