A thrill too far for Fox Glacier victims

BROTHERS: Ashish Miranda, 24, and Akshay Miranda, 22, of Melbourne, at World Youth Day in Sydney last year.

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Brothers Ashish and Akshay Miranda were inseparable.

Mad on sports, faith and the search for a thrill, friends say the pair relaxed into the Australian way of life quickly after they arrived in Melbourne from Mumbai in India in 2000.

Their Facebook sites, where they had more than 300 friends combined, revealed their panic for family members' safety in November's terrorist attacks on Mumbai.

Now those same sites have become a symbol of the despair of their friends and family.

The body of Ashish, 24, was recovered from the West Coast's Fox Glacier on Thursday, while the search for Akshay, 22, presumed dead, was abandoned yesterday because of poor weather and dangerous conditions. Authorities say it is possible his remains will never be recovered.

The pair, on holiday from Melbourne with their parents, Ronnie and Winnie Miranda, and cousins from Auckland, had reportedly crossed safety barriers to take photos about 4.20pm on Thursday when a section of ice collapsed.

Their parents watched as the 100-tonne mass of ice - some pieces as big as cars - crashed down, not knowing their only children were standing beneath it.

German tourist Engi Scherl saw the brothers' father rush by, desperately looking for his sons. "He was very helpless and crying, it was very sad and bad."

People began digging through the massive blocks of ice   with their hands before a digger came to help.

Fox Glacier Guiding chief executive Rob Jewell said tourists "get seduced by the glacier and want to get up closer".

It is understood the two men had walked right up to the glacier, which is believed to be about 50 to 60 metres high, and touched it.

The brothers were buried by ice that covered an area of about 10 metres by 30 metres and was up to five metres thick.

Heavy rain fell yesterday, and Constable Paul Gurney of Franz Josef said it would be decided today whether the debris had moved enough to allow another attempt to recover the body.

Mr Jewell has welcomed the Conservation Department's decision to conduct a full safety review of the area after witnessing tourists who ignored safety signs "day after day".

DOC South Westland area manager Jo Macpherson said dealing with people who jumped safety barriers and ignored signs was a big problem. 

Conservation Minister Tim Groser said yesterday the department would review safety procedures. It regularly reviewed safety procedures and a safety report of Fox Glacier was done in August last year.

Akshay was an engineering student at Monash University in Melbourne, due to finish his studies this year.

Ashish, an aerospace engineer for Boeing, had studied at RMIT where he was part of a team that won an international award for helicopter design.

- © Fairfax NZ News