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You are here: Base > About SAR > News

News

Jacek Grzybowski - 3 June 2008

On Saturday 31 May 2008 Jacek took a train and then a bus to the Sunny Grove area of Wainuiomata. He told friends he wanted to do a day walk in the Rimutaka Forest Park. He asked locals in the Sunny Grove area for directions on how to access the park. On Tuesday 3 June 08 he did not turn up for work and his employer notified Police that he was missing. WLSAR search teams then spent over 4 days looking for Jacek. WLSAR received help from other Region 4 search teams, including teams from the Wairarapa, Tararua, Horowhenua and Palmerston North areas. On the afternoon of Saturday 7 June search teams found a body in Turere Stream. The body has yet to be formally identified.
Refer to the following links for more info:
Body found in Rimutaka Forst Park Police media release 7 June 2008
Photos of Jacek
Police media release 3 June 2008
Forest Search begins for missing Polish tramper
Fears grow for missing Polish tramper
NZ Herald article

Graeme McNaughton - 1 August 2007

On Tuesday 31 July 2007, Graeme went missing on a walk from his home in Stokes Valley Rd, near Raukawa St. WLSAR teams extensively searched the Stokes Valley area on 1 and 2 August. Dog teams have searched the Monastery area, and leaflet drops have yielded valuable information from local residents. Police will undertake further searches on the basis of new information from residents who respond to the leaflet drop. Graeme is 78 years old, about 5ft 8inches (1.72m) tall, and wears glasses.
Update On 30 November 2007 Graeme McNaughton's body was recovered from a stream bed in bush about 300 from his home. He was found about 50 m outside the search area. Refer to the following links for more info:
Police resume search News release about further searching on 8 August 07
Photo news release Photo of Graeme McNaughton
Leaflet drop news release More info on Graeme

Wayde Carson

On Sunday evening, 6 May 07, WLSAR volunteers went into the Rimutaka Forest Park to look for 14 year old Wayde Carson. Wayde had separated from a hunting companion earlier that afternoon. WLSAR teams searched through to 3am and then recommenced searching by 7am. Wayde walked out of the search area at 8am.

Operation Stewart

Monday 13 June to Friday 17 June 2005

On Monday 13 June, Kaye Stewart, a 63 yr old day walker was reported missing since midday. She was last seen by a DOC worker at around 12.30pm near the South Coast Rd, in the Catchpool area of the Rimutaka Forest Park. Mrs Stewart reportedly asked for directions back to her car, which was parked about 1.5km away. The route she should have taken involved a walk along a sealed road. Weather was wet and cool, with southerly fronts through the area during the afternoon and evening.

The search commenced at around 3pm, with Police dog teams seaching tracks and road edges. WLSAR volunteers continued the search, with up to 6 teams searching until 2am Tuesday morning. Since Tuesday, WLSAR teams, the Police dive squad, other Police, Westpac helicopter, and Helipro have assisted in the search for Kaye.

Kaye Stewart is about 5'9" (1.73m) tall, and 14 stone (88 kg). She wears glasses. She has short cropped grey/brown hair and is believed to have been wearing brown track pants and a woollen or acrylic jersey and light nylon jacket. WLSAR askes anyone who was in the Wainuiomata Coast Rd area on Monday to contact the Police if they have any information which may assist the search.

Operation Wilkinson

Wednesday 5 January 2005 to Saturday 8 January 2005.

On Saturday morning, 8 January 2005, an NZDF Iroquois extracted the last SAR team members from the Tararuas. This marked the end of a 4 day operation to rescue Louise Wilkinson, a 49 year old solo tramper. SAR teams from Wellington and the Wairarapa had successfully extracted her the previous afternoon when Jason Diedrichs (JD) of Amalgamated helicopters lifted Ms Wilkinson from rugged terrain at 3.15pm and flew her to Masterton Hospital. Weather during the SAR operation was severe and only the briefest of windows on day 3 of the operation allowed the extraction of Ms Wilkinson to occur. The atrocious weather continued immediately after the last teams landed on Saturday morning, when bad weather caused more widespread flooding in the Wellington region.

Wellington Land SAR thanks all those who made this successful operation possible. Contributing people and organisations included Amalgamated Helicopters, NZDF (Iroquios), Lifeflight Trust (Westpac Rescue Helicopter), Masterton Police, Wairarapa SAR, Wellington Free Ambulance, the Metservice, AREC, the Police and civilian members of Wellington Land SAR, and the employers and families of those involved.

Background At around 8am on Wednesday morning, Wellington Police were informed that Louise Wilkinson was stuck on Atkinson peak, while attempting a southern crossing of the Tararua ranges. The Police immediately paged the SAR advisers and the Westpac rescue helicopter was sent into the area. At the time, the cloud base was at around 1400 metres, just below the position of the woman. Because she was not seen by the helicopter, Westpac then flew two Wellington SAR teams into the area at midday. Jason Diedrichs, from Amalgamated Helicopters, also flew a two person Wairarapa team from Masterton. He dropped them off on False Spur, which runs off Atkinson. The Masterton team found Ms Wilkinson in a hypothermic state at 1.30pm on Wednesday afternnon. She was lying on the Southern Crossing track just below the summit of Atkinson, a 1472m peak.

Ms Wilkinson was suffering from hypothermia and severe exhaustion, and could not be moved. Search and rescue team members stayed with her until she was lifted out 2 days later. Severe weather experienced at the time included up to 250mm (10 inches) of rain on Wednesday night, and storm force winds.

Because weather conditions prevented a helicopter evacuation, Ms Wilkinson was eventually carried by stretcher to a more sheltered position. Nearly 40 SAR team members from Wellington and the Wairarapa were placed into the field. More than 10 other people were involved in managing the incident.

Click here for photos (thank you Caroline)

Comment

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The following points are instructive:

Ms Wilkinson had a map and was not lost. She gave an accurate description of her location. This assisted the search phase and she was found very quickly.
Despite a find occurring relatively early in the operation, severe weather grossly affected the ability of well equipped SAR teams to operate. Trampers should always be alert to how weather conditions will affect them, irrepsective of how well equipped they are.
The weather can hamper helicopter operations for days. Plan for this and prepare to be in for the long haul.

O'Keefe and friends operation, Orongorongo valley

4 January 2005

2005 started for Wellington SAR at 0130 hrs on Tuesday. Three men and two children aged 5 and 10 plus a dog had failed to return from an afternoon stroll in the Catchpoole area. They were due out for a BBQ at 1800 - and it remains light until 2100.

The complicating factor was that the children wore only tee shirts and shorts / jeans. None of the adults had a jacket either. Metservice and Hutt Police advised that there was drizzle / light rain plus it was windy in the area.

Because of the risk to the children two SAR teams plus Police dog were deployed at 0500. The missing party was found at 0630. The children were checked and given food. The youngest had a brief radio conversation with his worried mum at the road end.

The missing group had walked too far and got caught by the dark. They had become confused in the darkness and at one stage had tried to climb the McKerrow track. Eventually they broke in to a hut and lit a fire. Police will be following up re damage to the hut and reimbursement for the owner.

Additional Info from Marty

Monday night at around 2300Hr I received a random phone call from in my hut in the Orongorongo's from the missing persons on the party line that links a number of huts on the true right of the river (the line only links the huts and does not dial into the public telephone network).

They told me they had been caught out by darkness and had broken into a hut for shelter due to concerns for the young children they had with them. From the description they gave me of the hut they were in, I worked out they were at Manuka hut in Manuka flat which has plenty of sleeping bags food etc in there.

At 0510 on Tuesday morning I arrived at Manuka hut and woke them up and told them I would take them down to the start of the Orongorongo track. They took an old sleeping bag to wrap around one of the kids and I also loaned them a jersey for the other child. I took them down the river to the start of the Orongorongo track at the Turere stream where they set off from there shortly after 0600Hr.

The missing party had walked into the valley along the Orongorongo track and had thought if they kept going they would be on a loop back to the carpark. They traveled along the Big bend track on the true right of the river then started climbing up the Whakanui track onto the Whakanui ridge. At some point they realised their error and turned back but were caught out by darkness.

Despite all the things they did wrong, they did turn back and re-traced their route once they had realised their navigational error, and they did put the welfare of their kids first by seeking shelter in a hut. It did drizzle intermittently in the valley that night.

Totara Creek Operation

Date: 8 August 2004

Two Wellington SAR teams and one SAR Adviser travelled to Masterton early on Sunday to help Wairarapa SAR in a search in the Totara Creek area.

The missing person was a 65 yr old male volunteer hut warden overdue at Totara Flats hut. He was last seen in a confused state in the Totara Creek area at around 1400 on Saturday. He had left the Holdsworth carpark on Friday. Police were concerned because of a diabetic condition and the fact that he had no tent / fly with him. Weather was wet and rivers and streams were up.

One Wellington team flew from the Westpac base at 0700 Sunday and headed up the Tauherinikau River in murky conditions marking off the various ridges and highpoints along the way. The team was inserted near the board walk on Pig Flat in windy, wet and cold conditions. (Team members climbed down the landing gear of the chopper and then dropped to the ground - quicker than a winch!!) The other Wgtn team was flown from the Holdsworth carpark to the Totara Flats area. Eight teams were in the bush.

The missing person was located by a Wairarapa team 150 metres from the Point Last Seen in thick bush. He was well off the track. An excellent find as he had dark clothing and was not responsive to calls from the search team.

WLSAR adviser, Matthew Nolan, was tasked to fly in to help with the rescue. A tight landing site in the creek followed by a scramble through the creek, mud and bush saw the paramedic safely delivered... his street shoes and uniform were a little worse for wear!!

The sight of three damp, unshaven trampers huddling up to the patient to provide warmth while others had errected a fly because of the rain was textbook SARstuff.

A stretcher carry to the chopper and evac to Masterton hospital followed. Teams were airlifted out - including a group of hunters who had been co-opted in to the search. Traditional Wairarapa hospitality followed before the return to Wellington.

WLSAR teams were:
Marty Green (L) Gavin Holden, Ron Gordon and Sam Bridgeman.
Mike Judd (L) Marie Hare, Louise Shilito and Richmond Atkinson

Congratulations to Wairarapa SAR on an excellent result.