Searchers find items
Search and rescue teams have found ‘‘items of interest’’ in the hunt for two missing trampers who set off nearly two weeks ago on a tramp in Kahurangi National Park.
Sergeant Malcolm York, the officer in charge of Tasman police search and rescue, said they were looking into whether the ‘‘items of interest’’ were relevant to missing trampers Jessica O’Connor, a sea kayak guide, and Dion Reynolds. Both are 23 and from the Tasman district.
O’Connor and Reynolds failed to return from a tramp in Kahurangi National Park after setting out on May 9.
York would not comment on what the items were, but said they were found in the remote Anatori catchment area, which is more than four hours’ drive from Nelson.
The location, which has a number of creeks feeding into it, is the area where search teams have been working over the past few days, he said.
‘‘Someone’s gone up there . . . but is it them? We’re still trying to work that out.’’
As the land search continued yesterday, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand command unit from Nelson arrived at Anatori.
The self-sufficient communication unit has mobile data and satellite phone communications.
Golden Bay Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) volunteer Dave Egan said when searching for missing persons, it was ‘‘always a challenge’’ trying to understand what they had done, where they went, and what their intentions might have been.
‘‘At the moment, we have one bit of information, and then that changes, so the focus is now over there . . . That [change in focus] is ongoing.’’
Egan said teams had been searching the Anatori River in freezing waist-deep water for several days. He and an Anatori sheep farmer had just dropped a team four kilometres up the river on quad bikes, following old forestry roads.
‘‘A couple of times the [quad] bikes were floating and it was just the wheels paddling us,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s pretty rough terrain.’’
Another LandSAR volunteer, Elly Delange, said teams had spent the entire day on Wednesday until 7pm in rugged virgin bush and cold river water searching for clues.
‘‘We are looking for clues, tracks, campsites, discarded things, footprints, whatever is not natural and unusual . . . We blow on the whistle a lot and call their names,’’ she said.
‘‘We just always hope we hear a call coming back from somewhere.’’
Search numbers have increased as various trails and scenarios are explored in the hope of finding the pair.
Rescue teams spent Wednesday night in bush around the Anatori River; however, efforts to locate O’Connor and Reynolds were unsuccessful.
Search and rescue coordinator Senior Constable Dave Cogger of the Nelson police said a drone with infrared capability had searched the area on Wednesday night but did not find anything of interest to assist with the search yesterday morning.
‘‘We came across a number of goats, marsupials and other animals but unfortunately no humans,’’ he said.
‘‘However, it has shown to be a valid search tool.’’
As the days since the pair were last seen tick on, more personnel are being sent in to search an area of interest in the wider search area, while others are being reassigned to search an area slightly north.
‘‘There is one particular valley system which we will be looking at,’’ Cogger said.
Yesterday morning, he said search teams would be ‘‘casting the net wider’’, checking out areas and structures further inland and on the coast – such as the Kahurangi Lighthouse.
The pair’s vehicle, which remained at the Anatori River car park they were known to have departed from, was also being monitored.
‘‘We blow on the whistle a lot and call their names. We just always hope we hear a call coming back from somewhere.’’
Elly Delange
Golden Bay LandSAR volunteer
The operation management team had been increased to eight, while about 20 people were expected to be in the field by the end of the day.
Cogger said the morale of the search teams had been ‘‘fantastic’’ despite a cold night in the bush.
The rugged terrain and largely unmarked trails of the Anatori presented a challenge for those on foot.
A further challenge in identifying the trampers’ location had been the ‘‘multiple guesstimates’’ regarding their return date from those interviewed, as well as a number of ‘‘Chinese whispers’’ information scenarios that had emerged.
The area is known as a spot where hallucinogenic mushrooms grow and are foraged for.
However, Cogger would not be drawn on any specific motives for the missing pair’s tramp into the bush.
‘‘Search and rescue is prepared for all contingencies,’’ he said.