College excursion goes awry

A teacher and a 14-year-old student spent an unscheduled night in the Tararua Range after becoming separated during a school trip.

The pair, from Wairarapa College, lost sight of their school group while tramping on the Totara Flats track on Tuesday.

Police were notified of their absence about 6pm on Tuesday. They were unable to search overnight because of the dark, but a helicopter was sent up at 5.30 yesterday morning.

Shortly after the helicopter took off, the pair made contact with the police. They were picked up by helicopter from Bull Mound about 8.30am.

Conditions were good and they were not in danger overnight.

Principal Shelley Power said the two were tramping with about 14 others as part of an excursion for year 9 and 10 students.

‘‘One teacher stayed back to help a slower student, and it appears there was a miscommunication over their catchup point,’’ she said.

At a fork in the route, the main group went one way, and the student and teacher went another. After a while, the teacher realised their error.

‘‘They were very calm, knew they had plenty of gear and heaps of food, and there was a plan about what to do next,’’ Power said.

‘‘The two had the option to stay in a hut for the night, but decided to head further uphill to an area with cellphone reception.’’

Senior Sergeant Mike Sutton said the pair were well prepared.

‘‘Obviously it’s not a situation they wanted to be in, but once that became the case, everything went according to plan,’’ he said.

‘‘They did the right thing, and based on the timeframes there wasn’t a lot of risk involved.‘‘