Police have recovered the bodies of two Canadian trampers who were caught in an avalanche at the weekend while walking the Kepler Track.
A photo released by police of the avalanche site in Fiordland National Park. Photo: SUPPLIED
Louis-Vincent Lessard and Etienne Lemieux, both 23, were last seen in Queenstown, catching a bus to Te Anau, on 7 July.
A photo of the missing tourists uploaded to Facebook on 6 July. Photo: NZ Police / Facebook
They were intending to walk the Kepler Track and were reported overdue by family members on Saturday.
Police carried out an aerial search of the track and yesterday afternoon found a man's body in a field of avalanche debris, near the Iris Burn Hut, about 350 metres below the track. They found a second body in the same area today.
Both bodies have been taken to Invercargill for formal identification.
The head of Southland's Search and Rescue, Sergeant Ian Martin, said the families of the missing trampers had been told two bodies had been found.
"It appears they have been walking along the track clockwise, which is not the normal direction that most people walk the Keppler Track on," he said.
"That's got no bearing on what's happened but they've just stepped into an area, we think, and triggered an avalanche and have been taken approximately 350m downhill."
Earlier, Acting Senior Sergeant Ian Temple told Morning Report he understood family members of one of the men were travelling to New Zealand.
A Facebook page, set up to help find the missing men, said both were Montreal University students, studying industrial design.
Images of the missing men were posted on a Facebook page. Photo: Facebook
A photo released by police shows search and rescue workers near the site of the avalanche in Fiordland National Park. Photo: SUPPLIED
