6 July 2006 5:10pm
A father and his 11-year-old daughter from Kawerau and a father and his two sons aged 12 &14 from Australia have been transported to safety following an overnight ordeal in the Urewera National Park.
Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand coordinated the search after detecting the distress beacon at 10:15pm yesterday. The search and rescue involved the use of a fixed-wing aeroplane, helicopter and land-based search and rescue teams. Heavy rain and fog hampered air searches throughout the night and into today. The five were eventually spotted from the air at around 2:30pm.
A helicopter was able to land near the group and take them all to safety at their nearby hut. The pilot reported the five to be cold, wet & hungry but otherwise in good spirits. The five were reunited with their belongings at the hut.
They requested to spend tonight in the hut and will be flown out as they had previously planned by charter tomorrow morning, albeit a day later than scheduled. The party of five activated their emergency distress beacon last night after they were trapped in a valley by rising water levels meaning they could not make it back to their hut safely. They had gone into the area on a hunting trip on 3 July.
For further information contact:
Maritime New Zealand Media Line
Phone 04 499 7318
