Four bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage of a crashed plane near Wanaka today.
A helicopter pilot flying in the area spotted the wreckage of a Cessna 185 fixed-wing aircraft and notified police around 12.40pm.
A Wanaka LandSAR team headed to the crash site, described as a ''precarious rock bluff'', on the north branch of the Motatapu River.
Inspector Olaf Jensen, Otago Lakes-Central Area Commander, this evening said four bodies had been recovered from the aircraft.
They had been taken to Wanaka for formal identification.
It was earlier reported that three or four people were thought to have been aboard the aircraft.
