Man Found Safe And Well After Night In Bush
West Coast Search and Rescue Co-Ordinator and Area
Response
Manager Senior Sergeant Mark Kirkwood:
A man missing on the West Coast overnight has been found safe and well.
The man is a visitor from the United Kingdom
and set out on a walk about 11am
on Tuesday, along the
Roberts Point Track in Franz Josef. At some point,
he
lost the trail and was unable to find his way
back.
Thankfully, the man was able to call for
assistance about 1am before his
phone went
flat.
Land Search and Rescue was contacted, who
deployed to the area along with
Police and Department of
Conservation staff. A thermal-equipped
helicopter
operated by Glacier Country Helicopters
brought the teams into the area.
The man was not
prepared for a night in the open and was wearing only
shorts
and a T-shirt, and did not have a personal locator
beacon.
Police were able to provide the man with a
crash course in survival prior to
his phone going
flat.
A search team in the helicopter spotted the man
about 10am, and much to
everybody’s relief, he was safe
and suffered no life-threatening injuries.
The man was
still within the search area, near Annie Peak, but some
distance
from any track or where he thought he may have
been.
Police would like to sincerely thank everyone
involved. This incident shows
just how important it is to
be prepared for a trip into the wilderness.
Personal
locator beacons are inexpensive to hire and could save your
life. In
this case, the individual is incredibly lucky to
be able to walk away with
only minor injuries, but many
other people haven’t been so
fortunate.