weekly news 

New Zealand helicopter crash

Police in New Zealand have named four British tourists killed in a helicopter crash on the Fox Glacier. They are Andrew Virco, 50, and Katharine Walker, 51, from Cambridge, and Nigel and Helen Charlton, aged 66 and 70, from Hampshire. The aircraft crashed in a crevasse on the glacier, on New Zealand's South Island, on Saturday morning.The crash site is on the island's remote west coast, which is a popular tourist area. Also among the dead are Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29, both from New South Wales, Australia, and pilot Mitchell Gameren, 28, from Queenstown, New Zealand. 

Rebecca Walker, 22, said her mother, Katharine, had a "special spin on life". "She worked hard and she played hard. She affected so many people in so many good ways," she told the BBC. She added that the couple's "big adventure" to New Zealand was to celebrate turning 50. Colleagues of Ms Walker, who was head of radiotherapy at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, are said to be "devastated" by her death. Ms Walker was a "much respected member of staff" who had worked at Addenbrooke's for 23 years, Cambridge University Hospitals said.The family of grandparents Mr and Mrs Charlton, who lived in the village of Dunbridge, near Romsey, said they were "deeply saddened". "They were very adventurous when it came to travel and this holiday was to be their last big adventure together," their statement said.

The bodies of three of the victims have now been recovered from the crash site and taken to a temporary mortuary facility nearby for formal identification, which New Zealand Police said may take a number of days. The recovery operation has been halted for the day after weather conditions at Fox Glacier deteriorated. Rescue teams in helicopters found no sign of survivors when they reached the crash site, rescue co-ordinators said. The cause of the crash is being investigated.