Staff at the Beachfront Hotel in Hokitika have been offered support after a Canterbury visitor who had been socialising at the hotel with his wife and friends fell 16m from the balcony to his death on Saturday night.
The 58-year-old died on the way to hospital.
Beachfront Hotel board chairman Peter Cuff yesterday said staff got a call about 11.30pm to say someone had fallen off the third-storey balcony.
Four staff members helped until the ambulance arrived.
''The staff are shocked and upset to learn he has subsequently died,'' Mr Cuff said.
Victim Support counselling had been arranged for the staff.
He also offered the hotel's condolences to the victim's family and friends.
Mr Cuff said they could not imagine how the man fell.
Detective Michel Bloom, of the Greymouth CIB, was tight-lipped yesterday, saying other media reports - that the man had been drinking and had been in a good mood - had misquoted him.
He referred to a brief press statement which said inquiries were continuing and police had yet to complete interviews with members of the man's group.
The man and his wife had apparently been staying in Hokitika with two other couples.
Police said the dead man's name would not be released until next of kin had been notified.
