Source: Radio New Zealand
Kauaeranga Valley. Supplied/DOC.
An elderly hiker who got lost and collapsed wearing only shorts and a singlet was saved by a mother and her two teenagers who huddled around him to keep him warm, police say.
He was in the Kauaeranga Valley in Coromandel with no emergency supplies apart from a phone.
Police were alerted by family at about 10pm on Sunday that the 80-year-old man was lost, had run out of water and collapsed on the trail.
The lost man had made the call.
Police were then able to pinpoint his location through his mobile phone, only 100 metres from Crosbies Hut.
A helicopter was sent but could not land because of deteriorating weather.
But the mother and her two children, who were also on the trail, were about to come to his rescue.
Enquiries by Police Search and Rescue and Department of Conservation revealed they were staying at the nearby hut.
Emergency crews managed to contact them to get to them to help find the lost man.
By this time, a second helicopter was sent but it too could not land because of the worsening weather.
The woman and her teenagers found the man within a short time, made a human circle around him to keep him warm, and made it back to the hut to wait for rescuers.
Eventually they were able to make it, with police and search and rescue teams reaching him at first light on Monday morning.
“He was very close to not being able to continue, and if it weren’t for the family staying at the hut nearby, things could have been very different,” Waikato West area commander Inspector Mike Henwood said.
“If you’re going out on an excursion in the bush, or adventuring on tramping trails, you need to be prepared for any eventuality.
Henwood said it was important to wear appropriate clothing and take food and water even for short walks, especially if hikers were unsure of the area.
He said the elderly man was grateful to see the rescuers when they arrived, but it was an uncomfortably “close call”.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
