Police were called to assist an experienced hunting team of a father and son who had been hunting in the Fox Glacier valley on Wednesday 31 May.
The Australian visitors had arrived in New Zealand this past weekend and had gone out hunting yesterday. The parties had become separated about lunch time, when they were nearly 1800 metres up in the Westland Ranges.
When the son called out to his father, and got no reply, he went looking for him.
Shortly after 1pm he found his father down a ravine with head injuries and went to his aid.
The son set off the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), which called out a rescue helicopter immediately.
That helicopter could not land in the high country, so the rescue helicopter from Greymouth was called out to assist.
Sadly the father has died in the ravine, so the son has been winched to safety by the helicopter after 7pm last night.
Currently SAR teams and Police from Fox Glacier are searching the area to recover the hunter.
The man who died was a 66-year-old Australian national.
Police extend their sympathies to the family at this sad time.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre