BREAKING NEWS: A man has died after spending two nights in a snow cave on Mt Egmont/Taranaki. Taranaki area commander Police inspector Blair Telford said a 31-year-old Japanese man had been found dead when searchers reached the missing climbers at 7:30am. The search was now a rescue and recovery operation and the focus was on getting the 29-year-old woman off the mountain safely, he said. The weather is still hampering rescuers and helicopters are unable to fly. Police Senior Sergeant Thomas McIntyre said the weather forecast was good and conditions up the mountain are clearer than yesterday. “They can actually stand up now so that’s really positive.” A group of rescuers had to turn back at 4am this morning but a second group had reached the pair at 7:30am.
