The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has opened an inquiry into the crash of a helicopter with one person on board at Lake Wanaka in Otago today.
A search began at around 1.23pm this afternoon after the Rescue Coordination Centre NZ received a notification from a helicopter company reporting one of its Robinson helicopters was overdue and had disappeared from their tracking systems at Lake Wanaka.
Three helicopters from the same company retraced the flight path of the missing aircraft, and spotted an oil slick one kilometre north of Stevenson Island and wreckage on the island's shoreline, said RCCNZ Senior Search and Rescue Officer Chris Henshaw.
RCCNZ is working with police, the coastguard, a LandSAR team and two additional helicopters to expand the scale of the search.
Searchers will be scouring the area on Lake Wanaka where the oil slick was seen, Mr Henshaw said.
Another team would land on Stevenson Island to investigate where wreckage was seen to establish any further information, he said.
The Chief Investigator of Accidents, Captain Tim Burfoot, says it's reported that the accident involved a Robinson R44 helicopter.
The commission has appointed a team of two investigators, due to arrive at the accident site tomorrow, he said.
The commission opens an inquiry when it believes the circumstances of an accident or incident have - or are likely to have - significant implications for transport safety, or when the inquiry may allow the commission to make findings or recommendations to improve transport safety.
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