Melbourne, Dec.2 (ANI): An inquest has revealed that the two young Melbourne-based Australian brothers were killed on New Zealand’s Fox Glacier while posing for photographs.

According to The Courier Mail, an inquest into the January 8, 2009 deaths of Ashish Miranda, 24, an aircraft engineer, and Akshay Miranda, 22, a student, got underway in the South Island town of Greymouth on Wednesday.

The men died while travelling with their parents on a summer holiday the boys funded as a silver wedding anniversary gift.

The accident was described as an “unthinkable tragedy” by coroner Richard McElrea, who was told both brothers had been taking photographs on the dangerous ledge before it collapsed.

Local constable Paul Gurney told the inquest the pair had been seen by several other holiday makers crossing an out-of-bounds safety rope to reach the ice shelf.

One brother posed for a picture while touching the ice as the other held the camera in position but at that moment the glacier gave a loud groan and the face collapsed, the officer said.

A witness, Graham O’Neill, said he was taking photographs of the ice face from 150 metres away when he saw the two men walk out on it.

He said he heard a shout like “Oh”, and then saw the men staggering to escape, trying to run before the ice engulfed them.

“These two men looked tiny (compared) to the ice falling,” Mr O’Neill said.

The parents of the dead men did not attend the two-day inquest, but in a letter to the court said there was a “cruel irony” that their sons had died on the holiday they had funded. (ANI)