Four skiers plunge over Mt Ruapehu cliff

Mt Ruapehu. File photo / Sarah Ivey

Four skiers have been air lifted from Mt Ruapehu after falling from a cliff this afternoon.

One man has been flown to Middlemore Hospital with spinal injuries, while two others were taken to Rotorua Hospital.

The group of skiers hiking to the mountain's summit had turned back due to bad weather before four of them fell from a cliff and slid about 200 metres.

They were recovered from the Mangaehuehu Glacier, at an altitude of about 2000m on the southern slopes of the mountain, by Taupo's Greenlea rescue helicopter.