A family of three trampers staying at a remote Coromandel hut became unlikely rescuers last night after police asked them to search for an 80-year-old man who had collapsed just 100 metres away.<\/p>\n
At about 10pm yesterday, police were alerted to the missing elderly man who had become lost on the walk in the Kauaeranga Valley, near Thames. <\/p>\n
He had collapsed on the track after running out of water and was wearing only shorts and a singlet, carrying no emergency supplies other than his mobile phone.<\/p>\n
Inspector Mike Henwood said the man was “lucky to have his mobile phone”.<\/p>\n
Emergency services were able to pinpoint his location after the 80-year-old called his family and his son raised the alarm, according to police.<\/p>\n
“He was only about 100 metres from Crosbies Hut,” Henwood said. <\/p>\n
A helicopter was dispatched but was unable to land due to worsening weather conditions. A second helicopter was also sent in, however it too was forced to turn back.<\/p>\n
But police and Department of Conservation (DOC) inquiries found that a nearby tramping party, a mother and her two teenagers, were staying at Crosbies Hut. <\/p>\n
They were then contacted to help find the lost man. <\/p>\n
“The mother and her teens left Crosbies Hut and within a short time found the elderly man,” Henwood said. <\/p>\n
“They formed a human heat circle, helping the man to warm up, before returning to the hut to wait for a rescue team.”<\/p>\n
At first light, police search and rescue were able to reach the area safely and extract the man. Henwood said it was a “very close” call and praised the family for their actions. <\/p>\n
“The elderly man was grateful to see rescuers, but it was an uncomfortably close call.<\/p>\n
“He was very close to not being able to continue, and if it weren\u2019t for the family staying at the hut nearby, things could have been very different.<\/p>\n
“If you\u2019re going out on an excursion in the bush, or adventuring on tramping trails, you need to be prepared for any eventuality.”<\/p>\n
Police reminded those heading into the bush, even those on short walks.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s important to wear appropriate clothing and take food and water even for a short walk – especially if you\u2019re not sure of the area,” Henwood said. <\/p>\n
“Emergency locator beacons are cheap to hire, and they\u2019re capable of saving your life, even when there\u2019s no cell phone reception.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A family of three trampers staying at a remote Coromandel hut became unlikely rescuers last night after police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273,9001,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-205958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-hamilton-waikato","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}