Tourist fatally hurt in crevasse plunge

A 52-year-old British tourist died after falling into a crevasse on Franz Josef Glacier on Saturday.

Anthony Paul Gaging was descending the glacier as part of a guided tour party when he tripped and fell 15m into a narrow crevasse, Greymouth police said.

Tour guides were able to get Mr Gaging out of the crevasse and a helicopter flew him to a waiting ambulance at Franz Josef, where the guides and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to save him.

The tour party was on a climbing trip to the Defiance Icefall area.