Police have released the names of the two West Coast men killed in a helicopter crash near Haast on Saturday.
They were Neale William Gray (54), of Hokitika, and Daryl Robert John Condon (51), of Bruce Bay.
Southern District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Dave Scott said yesterday it was believed Mr Gray was the pilot and Mr Condon the passenger.
The two men had been travelling from Wanaka to the West Coast on Friday afternoon in a Hughes helicopter.
They were reported overdue at 9.15pm.
Two helicopters searched until midnight, but were then stood down by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre because of bad weather.
The search resumed at 7.30am on Saturday and the wreckage was found about 8.45am in the Fish River, between Makarora and the Gates of Haast.
Southern District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said Wanaka police and a Land Search and Rescue team were sent to the crash scene.
They found the wreckage submerged in the river with the pilot and passenger still inside.
The bodies of the two men were transported to Christchurch for postmortems and their deaths have been referred to the coroner.
The Herald on Sunday reported the two men had taken the helicopter to Wanaka for servicing on Friday and were returning to Bruce Bay, in South Westland.
They were last spotted over Makarora at 6.15pm on Friday.
The paper reported Mr Gray was an experienced pilot and ran Neale Gray Mechanical in Hokitika.
Mr Condon had recently qualified as a pilot, following in the footsteps of others in his family, who were farmers and keen aviators.
He leaves three children.
The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the crash.
Communications manager Mike Richards said yesterday the wreckage of the Hughes 300, two-seater helicopter was found in a location with ''particularly difficult'' access.
It appeared the helicopter had descended through the tree canopy before hitting the river.
A local search and rescue Squirrel helicopter lifted the wreckage and its occupants out of the river with the help of police divers.
The wreckage was transported to secure storage in Wanaka to enable CAA investigators to begin an examination today.
Mr Richards said an inspection at the crash site was not possible because of the steep embankment and rapidly deteriorating weather conditions.
