Injured and disoriented tramper found after several days in the elements

Thursday, 7 February 2019

A 60-year-old man missing in the Tararua Range has been found alive after an extensive search by police, Search and Rescue and the NZ Defence Force.

With two twisted ankles, disoriented by a head injury and stuck in the middle of the Tararua Range for several days, an Upper Hutt tramper's prospects alone were not good.

Luckily for Warren Jones, a well-oiled machine made up of police, the airforce and an army of volunteers swung into action and soon closed in on the 60-year-old's location.

Incident controller Pete Cunningham of Police Search and Rescue and Wairarapa Search and Rescue chairman Murray Johnston at the base headquarters on the edge of Hood Aerodrome in Masterton.

'I just can't thank them enough, those pilots, the helicopter teams,' he said.

Jones started a four-day tramp in the mountain range north of Wellington at Mt Holdsworth Rd end in Carterton on Thursday, January 31.

Jason Diedrichs of Amalgamated Helicopters and his crew were the first to spot the missing tramper. (File photo)

Searchers were ecstatic when they heard that the missing tramper was found. Team members from Horowhenua and Palmerston North (pictured) were helicoptered out of the ranges in a Air Force NH90.

* Trampers flown out of Tararua Range after getting into trouble

* Man who fell ill on Tararua Range reportedly ill-prepared for dangerously low temperatures**

One of the search teams at the debriefing afterwards. From left, Sam Milligan, Matt Wyeth, Paul Bashford, Eric Barber and Brendan Davidson.

He was found by local helicopter-spotters a week later using a keen eye and thermal imaging at 6.30am on Thursday morning, and was transferred to Masterton Hospital for assessment.

Jones said he was amazed that the searcher found him in such rough terrain.

'I could see them flying over me for two days. I tried to get their attention but I was a needle in a haystack – make that a needle in a thousand haystacks.

'It's dense bush. I'm amazed they found me, they worked so hard.'

Jones was due home on Sunday, but when he failed to return, he was reported missing to police on Tuesday morning.

'I was meant to be out Sunday but the rain had come up so I hunkered down to wait – I am used to that. Come Monday, sometime in the morning I slipped on a rock in the river and hurt my ankle pretty bad, then I fell back and got a fair knock on the head too. I managed to get out of the river, then I stayed put.'

Incident controller Senior Constable Pete Cunningham said a ground search of tracks and huts on Tuesday and Wednesday failed to find him.

Fortunately for searchers, the tramper had diligently left a trail on his first few nights by signing into hut logbooks as he passed through. With that information, searchers were able to narrow down Jones' most likely location to three valleys.

The Defence Force joined the search on Wednesday afternoon, using a Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter. They were able to lift two four-member teams in.

Carterton pilot Jason Diedrichs of Amalgamated Helicopters suggested his team use thermal imaging technology to sweep the valleys where the missing man was likely to be.

Fellow pilot Jamie Hansen, using the naked eye, and searcher Jordan Munn armed with a thermal imaging camera both saw the man at almost exactly the same time from Diedrichs' chopper.

'I could hear the helicopter coming up the river this morning, first thing. It had been nine days I'd been in the bush.

'It's a terrible thing to just have to wait. Wait for someone you don't know to save you.'

He was sheltering under a rock shelf near the riverbed of the Waiohine River below Angle Knob. They loaded him on the aircraft and transported him back to awaiting searchers at Hood.

Cunningham said they were absolutely elated when they heard the news.

'We couldn't believe it, because it was a long time for him to be out there. We started fearing the worst because we were not finding any clues.

'The base pretty much erupted we heard he had been found,' Cunningham said.

Jones was hobbling on a makeshift walking stick and being supported by rescuers as he disembarked the helicopter.

Though he was in good spirits, Jones told medical staff his head injury made him disoriented - the tramper woke up in the bush each morning wondering where he was and how he had got there.

Cunningham said Jones had done several things right which helped with the positive result. He had enough food, clothing and shelter and used the hut logbooks, but did not have an emergency locator beacon.