This weekend (24 and 25 March) Canterbury will be holding its District Search and Rescue (SAR) Exercise.
"This is our major training event for the year. It involves up to 100 participants from Canterbury Land Search and Rescue, Police Search and Rescue and the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications group," SAR Coordinator Sergeant Phil Simmonds says.
"The exercise will be used as an opportunity to continue the search for 20-year-old Emma Beattie, who went missing from her Fernside home in December."
The officer in charge of the search for Emma, Senior Sergeant Paul Reeves, says the Beattie family have requested privacy at this difficult time.
“Our sympathies are with the Beattie family – they want more than anything to bring Emma home.
“If anyone has any information that may assist in our search, I urge them to contact their local Police station or make an anonymous call to 0800 Crimestoppers.”
The weekend-long exercise and search will be based at Loburn School. Field teams will be deployed in the Ashley River area, near Rangiora.
The exercise will also include helicopter safety, Incident Management Team training and field refresher training.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre