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The parents of two Australian men killed at Fox Glacier are taking the body of their eldest son home to Melbourne, with the second body unlikely to be recovered for some time.
The body of Ashish Miranda, a 24-year-old Boeing aerospace engineer, was recovered last Thursday, but the search for his brother, Akshay Miranda, a 22-year-old student, was halted because of dangerous conditions.
More than 100 tonnes of ice was believed to have fallen on the men, who crossed safety barriers at the terminal face to take photos.
Ronald and Winnie Miranda left Fox Glacier last night for Christchurch, and were making arrangements to return to Australia, Constable Paul Gurney said.
"They could be waiting here for months, so they've gone over to deal with their other son who's in Christchurch and they'll make their way back to Melbourne and have a funeral," Mr Gurney said.
Search teams would review the operation tomorrow, and were likely to scale it right back.
"We've been keeping an eye on it, and the ice is not melting very fast and the river's not washing it away, and it's too dangerous to let anyone else go in there to try and get him - it was dangerous enough just getting the other guy out," Mr Gurney said.
Akshay's body would be left while the ice melted, and would hopefully be found once it washed down the river.
Glacier guides and Department of Conservation staff would keep an eye on the area while working in the valley, Mr Gurney said.
Both the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers were advancing, and had continual rock and ice falls at the terminal faces.
- NZPA
