Climber falls while climbing the South West Ridge of Mt Aspiring

At 6.50 am on 15/12/10 Wanaka Police were alerted to an incident in the MT Aspiring National Park.  It was reported that a climber had fallen while climbing the South West Ridge of Mt Aspiring.

Constable Mike Johnston stated the fall occurred while the deceased and his 20 year old male climbing companion where ascending the South West Ridge of Mt Aspiring. The climbing companion was assisted down from the mountain to Colin Todd hut by two climbing guides who were guiding clients to the summit.

3 members of the Wanaka Search and Rescue Alpine Cliff Rescue team responded to the incident and recovered the body of a 21 year old male of Singaporean decent visiting from Melbourne, Australia.

It was perfect weather conditions for the rescue team. The recovery had a technical nature as the rescue team needed to use a strop (rescue rope below the helicopter) to access the steep terrain to recover the deceased.

Constable Mike Johnston of the Wanaka Police said that an investigation is being completed by Wanaka Police on behalf of the Coroner to ascertain what caused the death.

Police have been able to located Next of Kin overseas and they have been informed of this tragedy. The name of the deceased is Eng Wu ONG and 21 year Singaporean student who was residing in Melbourne Australia.