Police are praising their Golden Bay volunteer LandSAR colleagues for the successful rescue of a woman lost on the Kaituna Track at the top of the South Island.
The woman was running the Kaituna Track on Sunday afternoon and was expected to be picked up by her husband and children at the Golden Bay end of the track around 6pm.
She did not arrive as planned, and the woman’s husband called Police after shortly after midnight.
He did, however, receive a text message around 7:35am today reporting that she was lost.
It’s likely the message was sent out the previous night, but she may have run into intermittent cell coverage overnight.
The woman was an experienced tramper and adventure runner, and had warm clothing, water and food, but was not prepared to stay out overnight.
Senior Constable Dave Cogger, Police Search and Rescue incident controller, says around 2am the local rescue helicopter was deployed to search the tracks in the area, however the aerial search was unsuccessful.
“Three LandSAR teams from Golden Bay that attended did a great job, the first being deployed at around 4am,” Senior Constable Cogger says.
“One team went in from each end of the track to ensure that they didn’t miss the woman coming out.
“They were tracking the women’s shoe prints to try and work out where she left the track and became disoriented.”
It emerged that the woman had deviated from the track slightly when she became lost, but the next day, when it became light she found it again.
She was located by one of the LandSAR teams shortly before 9am today.
She was uninjured, and was walked out by the team. The other SAR teams made it back out by around 1pm.
Senior Constable Cogger says the woman was pleased to be reunited with her grateful family.
ENDS
Issued by the Police Media Centre