Invercargill Police are in the process of recovering the second person from the crashed helicopter in Bluff harbour.
Earlier today the crashed helicopter was located submerged near Colyers Island.
The other occupant was found on the shore of a nearby islet.
Inspector Olaf Jensen said the occupants, Jason Wright and Allan Munro, have yet to be formally identified and their deaths have been reported to the coroner. Formal identification is likely to be completed tomorrow.
The Civil Aviation Authority has been advised and will take charge of the crash investigation.
An investigator will be on site later today and a decision will then be made around recovery of the crashed Robinson 22 helicopter.
Inspector Jensen has praised the work of all personnel involved in the search which numbered around 40 people. A number of these people had worked long hours, and had been very focussed on finding the missing helicopter.
ENDS