Australian brothers named as searchers wait

9 Jan 2009, 7:47 am   -   Source: AFP
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Two Australians have been killed on Fox Glacier in New Zealand. (AAP)

Two Australians have been killed on Fox Glacier in New Zealand. (AAP)

The recovery of a second Australian brother, feared dead, after being crushed by falling ice at Fox Glacier has been postponed because it is too dangerous, police say.

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The recovery of a second Australian brother, feared dead, after being crushed by falling ice at Fox Glacier has been postponed because it is too dangerous, police say.
   
The body of Ashish Miranda, a 24-year-old aerospace engineer for Boeing, was recovered yesterday, but the search for his brother Akshay Miranda, a 22-year-old student, had to be abandoned about 8pm local time last night due to dangerous conditions.
   
The brothers were crushed by ice after crossing safety barriers at the terminal face to take photos around 4.20pm (1420 AEDT).   

Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and glacier workers continue to monitor the glacier and the search will resume as soon as it is safe, Constable Paul Gurney said.
   
He said the two men were the only children of their parents who they lived with in Melbourne.

Indian website Daijiworld Media Network reported the family had migrated to Melbourne from Mumbai.

A Mumbai-based aunt of the brothers said the family was still hoping and praying that Akshay would be found alive.

The brothers' parents are Ronnie and Winnie Miranda, the website said.

The parents were in the Fox Glacier township, Constable Tony LeSueur, of Hokitika, said.

The family was due to fly back to Australia on Sunday morning.

LeSueur said local guides were quick on the scene yesterday but were powerless to help.

A digger helped search for the bodies as long as it was safe, but managed to find only one.

People visiting areas like the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers needed to respect safety barriers and notices, he said.

More than 100 tonnes of ice was believed to have fallen on the men, some pieces of ice being the size of large vehicles.

Conservation Minister Tim Groser said it was a "tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions (for the parents) to lose both sons in one tragedy".

Groser was at Fox Glacier but was staying out of the way of the operational staff conducting the search.

"There are extensive safety procedures in place, these are reviewed annually, there's also been independent assessment of these procedures.

"We're dealing with a situation that is a highly dangerous and dynamic natural environment involving rock, ice and rivers."

The procedures were last reviewed in August last year.

He said the facts of the latest incident would be reviewed by DOC, police and probably the coroner.

There will always be risk, but also "some responsibility on the part of these individuals who go into these areas".

In 2007, DOC said almost a third of the 600,000 visitors to the West Coast glaciers ignored warning signs and entered danger zones.

In February that year, a tourist standing beside an ice cave at the terminal face of the Franz Josef Glacier was injured when the roof collapsed.

He had walked past signs warning of the danger of falling ice.
 

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