Hannah and Campbell must have some very loyal friends down there.
Thanks to all the search teams for persevering in such difficult conditions....
New Search for Backpacker Missing in 'Copter Crash
http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2401145
By Lucy Rodgers, PA News
Search and rescue teams looking for a British backpacker missing in New Zealand have started to scour the area on foot, police said today.
Some 30 teams are searching the Fiordland area of the country’s South Island for traces of the helicopter which disappeared with 28-year-old Hannah Timings and pilot Campbell Montgomerie, 27, on board.
Ms Timings, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and Mr Montgomerie, from Hamilton, New Zealand, lost contact with air traffic controllers on January 3, while flying in poor weather.
It is feared they crashed between Queenstown and Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park.
After a number of helicopter searches failed to find any trace of the pair or their helicopter, rescue workers are now attempting to find them on foot.
Constable Finn Murphy of Te Anau police, which is co-ordinating the search, said: “There are 30 ground search teams and two helicopters currently out there.
“They are searching the close-cover ground, covered with dense vegetation, which cannot be seen clearly from the air.
“They are particularly searching an area called Hollyford Valley because it was near to here that people said they heard a machine, which could have been the helicopter.
“If it went into the trees we would be unlikely to spot it from the air.”
Mr Murphy said the teams would be starting from the top of the ridges, working their way to the valley below.
Bryan Nicholson, spokesman for the British High Commission in New Zealand, confirmed the search for the pair was continuing.
“The last information that we have is that the search is continuing on foot,” he said. “Weather permitting they will be out on foot and there will be a number of teams.”
Police in Te Anau had called off the air search at the end of last week and said it must be presumed that the Ms Timings and Mr Montgomerie were dead.
It is now down to rescuers on foot to check the mountainous area where the four-seater privately-owned helicopter was lost.
Ms Timings, who worked as a furniture buyer in London between her travels, had been visiting friends in New Zealand since October and was due to return to the UK in March.
Her brother, Sam Timings, 25, described his sister as a seasoned traveller who could not settle for long. Her father, Philip, has flown to New Zealand to assist with the search.
Ms Timings and Mr Montgomerie, took off at 7.50am on Saturday January 3 local time (1850 GMT Friday) from Howden Hut, west of Queenstown, and were heading for Milford Sound.
Just under an hour later Mr Montgomerie radioed Milford Sound air traffic control saying he was in cloud and asked for directions through the mountains.
Police said contact was lost six minutes later.