An Australian soldier has been killed after falling down a crevasse on New Zealand's Mount Cook.



Police said the 44-year-old fell 30m to 40m down a crevasse in the Grand Plateau area at about 12.20pm on Wednesday.

His body has been recovered and flown back to the Mount Cook emergency service centre. Police are advising his next of kin.

The soldier was one of a party of 10 people who had been on Mount Cook, police said. Australia's defence ministry confirmed he was on a training exercise.

The manager of Alpine Guides, Arthur McBride, said accidents like this happened occasionally on the mountain, but occurred anywhere there was crevasse terrain.



McBride said crevasses could be invisible if snow fell over them but if people were roped to each other they would usually be safe.

The accident was unrelated to the rock avalanche on the other side of the mountain on Tuesday, he said.

At 3,724 metres, Mount Cook is New Zealand's tallest mountain.