By 3 News online staff / NZN
A coroner's inquest into the deaths of nine people in a plane crash at Fox Glacier in September 2010 has begun, with family members of the deceased laying the blame on the company that hosted the flight and lax aviation regulations.
The group were on a sky diving adventure when the plane they were in crashed, killing tourists Glen Bourke, Patrick Byrne, Annita Kirsten, and Brad Coker.
Pilot Chaminda Senadhira, and dive-masters Adam Bennett, Michael Suter, Christopher McDonald, and Rodney Miller also died.
The coroner's inquest will be held at Greymouth District Court and is expected to take a week.
Reverend Robin Kingston read a letter from Ms Kirsten's parents, which blamed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Skydive NZ for their daughter's death.
Glen Byrne, brother of Irish national Patrick Byrne, said a lack of regulation caused his brother's death, and he hopes "lessons are learned".
Pamela Bennett, mother of Adam Bennett, said he died doing what he loved.
In May the CAA and the plane's operators were criticised in a Transport Accident Investigation Commission report into the accident.
The report says modification of the plane in the months before the crash was poorly managed and discrepancies in the documents weren't picked up by CAA when it approved them.
In a statement at the time, CAA director Graeme Harris admitted it didn't regulate the parachuting sector closely enough at the time, but that it had improved.
"A great deal of work has been done to improve safety in this sector, and I am certain that it will," he said.
New adventure aviation regulations introduced last November set higher standards and allowed the CAA to monitor the industry more closely.
TAIC found the imbalance of weight at the rear of the plane was a likely factor in the crash.
3 News / NZN