Location: Wanaka District: National Alerts

Wanaka Police

Search dog finds remains of missing woman's body in the Dart River.

Ms Irina YUN, a 36 year-old Russian immigrant living in Auckland, went missing on 31st December 2008 while attempting to tramp the difficult Cascade Saddle track from Mt Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki Valley, to the Dart Hut on the Dart River. She was last seen at 9.30am heading up the Cascade track.

The LandSAR Wanaka search operation involved over 350 man-hours, combing the exposed and difficult high country on the route as well as gullies, river beds and gorges in the immediate area.

A tramping pack – positively identified as belonging to Ms Yun – was found in a difficult gorge area of the Dart River, below the Dart Hut. Damage to the pack made it clear that it had been torn from its wearer with considerable force and had been in the water for some time.

After 5 days of searching police concluded the search based on the strong belief that Ms YUN had been subjected to the force of the Dart River which was in flood at the time of this incident. Unfortunately her survivability having been caught by the river was considered to be extremely limited.

Mr Dave Krehic, a Land SAR dog handler from Oxford, was involved in the latter stages of the original search. He returned to the area on the 13th of this month, some 11moths later to conduct a private search with his dog Stig and other Land SAR members.

They subsequently located a femur and pelvis bone in the river bed wedged in between some rocks approximately 3km down stream of the Dart Hut. The remains were uplifted by Police and taken to Dunedin for examination.

The Dunedin Coroner an Anthropologist and Pathologist have examined the remains and have been able to confirm that the remains are that of Ms YUN.

Next of Kin and friends have been advised of the find and will now be in a better position to have some closure with regard to Ms YUN's disappearance.

ENDS

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