{"id":216115,"date":"2026-01-04T09:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216115\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T09:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:33:09","slug":"major-search-launched-for-missing-tramper-near-lake-ohau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216115\/","title":{"rendered":"Major search launched for missing tramper near Lake \u014chau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JVB94L_connor_png.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1260\" alt=\"Connor Purvis\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nConnor Purvis.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZ Police\n<\/p>\n<p>Police have launched a major search for a missing tramper near Lake \u014chau.<\/p>\n<p>Connor Purvis, 20, set off to climb Mt Huxley on or around 30 December, descending through the Huxley River South Branch.<\/p>\n<p>But he has not returned from his tramp, which police say is sparking concern.<\/p>\n<p>Police Search and Rescue teams, Land Search and Rescue teams, and a Department of Conservation alpine rescue team are all trying to find him.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JVB94L_connor_3_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"590\" alt=\"Connor Purvis\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nConnor Purvis.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZ Police\n<\/p>\n<p>Otago Coastal Search and Rescue Coordinator Sergeant Matt Sheat said helicopters were also scouring the area.<\/p>\n<p>They have been looking through huts and camp sites but have found no sign of Purvis.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We ask anyone who has climbed Mt Huxley or has been tramping or hunting in the Huxley River South Branch between 28 December and 2 January to make contact with Police if they haven&#8217;t already,&#8221; said Sheat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also want to hear from anyone who may have seen or spoken to Connor in the South Temple, Ahuriri or Huxley valleys in that same timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a large-scale search over a large area, and the smallest piece of information could make all the difference.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Purvis. Photo: Supplied \/ NZ Police Police have launched a major search for a missing tramper near&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-216115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216115","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=216115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}