A Briton was among three people to fall to their deaths near Mount Cook (left), New Zealand's highest peak. The Foreign Office named the Briton as John Lowndes, a 59-year-old salesman from Stoke-on-Trent, who died while crossing Ball Pass. He, a Japanese climber and a local guide died when one of them slipped, dragging the others over an ice cliff.
Mr Lowndes had been roped to Japanese climber Kazuhiro Kotani, 29, and their local guide Erica Beuzenberg, 41, when one of the three climbers slipped and fell shortly before 10:35am local time (21:35 GMT) on Tuesday.
The five other members of their climbing party called for help, but the group were all dead when search and rescue teams arrived at the scene. Their bodies remained on the mountain as weather conditions made it too difficult to retrieve them.