Fire leads searchers to missing pair
Fantastic outcome after ‘19-day ordeal’
Missing trampers Dion Reynolds and Jessica O’connor were found when smoke from a fire they lit was seen by a search helicopter — a result the police said was “a fantastic outcome”.
It’s believed the pair had been without food for some time.
Nelson Bays Area Commander Inspector Paul Borrell said the missing trampers had been through “a 19-day ordeal . . . and considering that they seemed reasonably well”.
The pair, both 23, went tramping in the Kahurangi National Park but failed to return when expected.
Reynolds has a strained ankle and O’connor suffered a strained back in a fall, RNZ reports.
After the fall, they stayed in that location for a few days before moving to where they could find water.
Once they found water, they stayed there until they were spotted.
Search and Rescue Sergeant Malcolm York said it was a “fantastic outcome and one we were all hoping for” .
He said the trampers got lost “fairly early on in the tramp”, due to fog, before suffering the minor injuries.
York said the pair were located in the headwaters of the Frasier stream shortly before 1pm yesterday by a search helicopter, which spotted smoke.
When picked up, they were “chatty and in good spirits”.
York said it was pretty rare to have such a positive outcome after such a long search.
“They did the right thing, they stayed put, and they made themselves visible, so when we got to that spot, we were able to see them.”
York understood “they’ve been without food for some time”.
He said the pair had excellent equipment that kept them alive in cold conditions.
“They’ve done well to survive. Just the fact that after 19 days they’re in such good condition . . . it shows they’ve done the right thing.”
Support from the community had been “absolutely fantastic”, especially from around Golden Bay.
“With anything there is always lessons to be learned, we are very hard on ourselves as we should be,” Borrell said.
York said SAR staff were still out in the field and gave a “massive thanks” to searchers.
A St John spokeswoman said the pair only had minor injuries but an ambulance had met a helicopter to take them to Nelson hospital.
A huge search effort for the pair included search teams aided by a dog and use of drones to create a heat map of the entire valley system.
The amazing survival and rescue mission of the two Nelson trampers missing in dense bush, is reminiscent of other Kiwis’ striking tenacity in the wild. The
has uncovered a few other stories of survival.
Wife of businessman and philanthropist Gareth Morgan, Jo Morgan had a miraculous survival after digging herself out of an avalanche which claimed the lives of her two friends. After digging herself out of the massive avalanche on Mt Hicks in October 2018, Jo Morgan set off a locator beacon.
Three men had a “lucky” escape after an avalanche brought snow crashing down on their tents during a hunting trip in Fiordland. The group came into distress late on the night of October 21, 2018 and set off a personal locator beacon. Rescue crews went out with night vision googles and managed to track the beacon down. The avalanche had hit the trio’s tents where they were camping at Lake Te Anau.
Two trampers were forced to activate a rescue beacon amid life-threatening wind gusts in the Mt Aspiring National Park in January this year. The pair were found “exhausted and hypothermic”, in conditions so extreme that the rescue helicopter could not land where they were.