NZ-based lecturer mourns brother who fell 400m to his death

Gustavo Virues fell 400m down a cliff. Photo / supplied

A New Zealand-based lecturer is mourning the loss of his brother who was killed after falling down a 400m cliff while exploring caves in Morocco.

Spaniard Gustavo Virues, 41, was on the High Atlas mountain range. His brother Javier Virues-Ortega, a senior lecturer in psychology and director of the applied behaviour analysis programme at Auckland University, flew home to Spain on Monday after hearing the devastating news.

When Mr Virues - who is survived by his wife and two sons, aged 8 and 4 - fell down the cliff, he was with two other experienced climbers.

Jose Antonio Martinez, a police inspector, also perished, however the third member of their group, police officer Juan Bolivar, survived.

The trio had broken off from a larger group of nine, and their companions alerted authorities last Wednesday when they failed to arrive at their rendezvous point.

Mr Virues is understood to have died last week, while Mr Martinez - who was still alive on Sunday when he was found - died later from injuries.

"We want them home as soon as possible," Mr Virues-Ortega said.

The family were told last night an autopsy had been completed on one of the two men in Marrakech.

"We are worried that this process may delay them more. The families are going through great suffering."

At the beginning of this week, Spanish media accusations from the Spelunkers Federation of Andalusia in southern Spain that Morocco had delayed accepting help from experts to recover the hikers, possibly costing the life of one of the climbers.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, declined to comment on those reports and said authorities were in contact with their Moroccan counterparts from the beginning and had immediately offered a team of police experts to rescue the three.

"(Moroccan authorities) understood" and there's no reason to believe any differently "that they could do it with their own means. It wasn't easy because these kind of things are never easy," Mr Rajoy told Spanish National Radio on Monday.

Morocco's government spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Mr Virues-Ortega had 25 years experience in mountaineering, caving, canyoning and climbing, Mr Virues said.

"He's been the leader of many expeditions in South America, North America - he's been to the Alps, Andes, Iceland, Morocco and many other places over the years. This was a tragic loss."

Mr Virues said his youngest brother and a cousin, who were both part of the larger expedition group, remained in Morocco as the investigation into the climbing deaths continued.

- additional reporting AP