Rescuers break news of wife's glacier death to Aussie man

Fiordland National Park. Photo / Dean Purcell

An Australian man climbing with his wife in the Fiordland National Park yesterday had to be told by rescuers she had died after they both fell 40 metres down a slippery ice face.

The Sydney couple lost their footing on the Karako Glacier about 1.30pm.

Southern Lakes Helicopters' operations manager, Lloyd Matheson, told the Dominion Post the 38-year-old woman died instantly but her husband was not aware she had been killed.

"I had to console him - I was the one who had to tell him his wife was deceased," Mr Matheson said.

"When she fell she took him with her. He was knocked unconscious and was some distance below her. When he came to he found her."

A Southern Lakes Helicopter from Te Anau was dispatched after the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCCNZ) was alerted to an emergency locator beacon activation in the area of the Karako Glacier.

The man suffered facial injuries and was taken to Te Anau medical centre.

Mr Matheson said there had been several deaths over the years - including that of Tasmanian father-of-four James Poland, who fell 100 metres to his death in January, a few kilometres from where yesterday's accident happened.

- NZPA