The New Zealand rural community has been left heartbroken by the deaths of two Department of Conservation (DoC) workers and a helicopter pilot in a crash.
Nick Wallis, Paul Hondelink and another as yet unnamed person died when their helicopter crashed near Wanaka Airport shortly after take-off.
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Mr Wallis brother, Matt Wallis, was also killed in a helicopter crash in Lake Wanaka in July.
RadioLIVE Rural exchange host Sarah Perriam told The AM Show through tears her family knew Matt Wallis very well.
"We lost our step brother in a helicopter accident and the Wallis family were very supportive through that time," she said.
"It's just ripped through the entire rural New Zealand, this accident, and the two DoC staff are a huge part of the fabric of Wanaka."
The Alpine Group, the company that employed Mr Wallis, said in a statement it had formed a strong working relationship with DoC and its predecessor the Forest Service.
"Alpine wishes to extend its sincere condolences to the families and colleagues of the crew of the helicopter which was involved in the tragic accident near Wanaka yesterday," it said.
"The men were not simply DoC workers, they formed part of a team of elite senior rangers within the Department. Importantly, they were personal friends of Alpine staff and ownership who are also grieving at this time."
DoC director general Lou Sanson told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report he had worked with the three people killed in the crash for years and the entire department is in shock.
Mr Sanson said the entire country had lost a wealth of experience in the crash, both with the DoC staff and Mr Wallis, who had worked with DoC frequently.
"We've lost some of the most significant experience in New Zealand, if not the world yesterday," he told Radio New Zealand
The helicopter had been on its way to meet a Newshub crew in Haast to discuss the tahr cull, which begun yesterday.
"We were going to do an interview for Newshub and really we were putting all the previous weeks of tension we've had with the hunting industries behind us," Mr Sanson told RNZ
"We're all ticked off, we've got agreement with the hunters, we had three helicopters in the air yesterday, one from Westland and two from Wanaka.
"Our staff believed they were going to make a difference. Nick Wallis believed he was going to make a difference."
Stuff reports the tahr cull has been put on hold.
Newshub.
