As put by Canterbury Aoraki Area Commander, Inspector Vicki Walker:
Police, with assistance from Wanaka Alpine Cliff Rescue Team and the Department of Conservation, are working to recover two climbers on Aoraki Mount Cook this morning.
At around 11:20pm last night Police were made aware of four climbers needing assistance on the west side of the mountain.
A helicopter from Queenstown flew to Wanaka and picked up the Wanaka Alpine Cliff Rescue Team, while a helicopter from Dunedin flew straight to the mountain and began searching.
The helicopter from Dunedin located two climbers in the group, who were airlifted from the mountain at around 2.15am.
The two helicopters completed extensive searches throughout the night for the remaining two climbers, as conditions on the mountain were calm and clear, but were unsuccessful.
The two missing climbers were located deceased at around 7am this morning.
The Rescue Coordination Centre continues to be the lead agency, and work continues in a challenging alpine environment, to recover the two remaining climbers.
Police are working to contact next of kin and until that process has been completed, details of the climbers will not be released.
The two climbers who were airlifted last night were uninjured and support is being provided.
