Helicopter vanishes in Ureweras (NZ)
Helicopter vanishes in Ureweras
05 DECEMBER 2001
Rescuers were last night searching for an overdue helicopter and possibly two hunters it went to pick up near Lake Waikaremoana in the Ureweras on Monday.
The pilot, about whom there are no details, left the remote village of Ruatahuna, 45km southeast of Murupura, at about 1.30pm on Monday.
He was to have picked up two hunters who had been stranded 20km north of Lake Waikaremoana since Friday because of bad weather. Previous attempts to lift the hunters out had been unsuccessful.
However, National Search and Rescue mission controller John Seward told NZPA last night the helicopter did not return from the trip.
Wairoa police and five local helicopter operators launched a search for the missing helicopter and the hunters yesterday morning.
It was not known if the hunters had been collected by the helicopter.
Mr Seward said there had been no contact with the missing pilot since the chopper left Ruatahuna.
The Robinson helicopter was equipped with an Electronic Locator Transmitter (ELT), but no distress signal had been received.
Helicopter searchers were yesterday using local knowledge of the area, renowned for its dense bush, to check possible landing spots, huts and rivers.
Rescuers were also checking along possible flight paths to the area where the hunters were located.
A Wairoa police spokesman said they were involved in a land search yesterday, but after dark had withdrawn from the area.
Mr Seward said nine land rescue teams were to search the area today, beginning at first light.
Three helicopters would be involved in the search today.
Weather conditions at the time of the missing helicopter's flight were "not ideal", Mr Seward said, with cloud sitting on the tops of the Urewera Ranges. It was not known how windy it had been.