Fall at wedding kills man

A man has died after falling off a bank on to rocks at Portage Bay in Picton.

The man, aged in his fifties, was attending a small wedding at the Portage Resort Hotel when he went for a walk alone after 10 o'clock on Sunday night.

Resort co-owner and general manager Alison Evans said the man had crossed a lighted bridge, walked into the gardens and fallen down a bank on to the beach.

No one realised for quite some time that the man was missing, she said.

"It was only a small group socialising by the end of the night, only about 12 people in the resort by about midnight ... and shortly before midnight people became concerned he had not returned."

When they found him a short time later he was dead.

The wedding party was made up of people from around the region and throughout the country.

Ms Evans said the police had completed their inquiries at the resort.

The staff who had been working had been outstanding in their behaviour.

"We spent a lot of time with the guests today and while it was very tragic and they were very upset, there was nothing but excellent feedback about how the whole thing had been handled."

- NZPA