KEY POINTS:
Police searching for missing Korean tourist Jae Hyeon Kim in bush near the West Coast town of Charleston have received an anonymous letter with information relating to the investigation.
The one-page unsigned letter, posted yesterday, arrived at the Westport police station today.
Inquiry head Detective Inspector John Winter said the postmark was indecipherable.
"We would ask that the writer make contact with me at the Westport police station to clarify the contents of that letter," he said.
Mr Winter declined to reveal what it said or whether it was hand-written or typed.
Mr Kim, 25, disappeared while on a year-long working holiday in 2003 and was reported missing by his parents in May 2004 after he failed to return home to Korea.
Police, who reopened the cold case last month, have been focusing this week on a roadside layby just south of Charleston, some 32km southwest of Westport, after a tip-off that some of Mr Kim's belongings could be found there.
Police refuse to say they are looking for a body or a grave.
A team of 15 police and Environmental Science and Research scientists are scouring a large area of bush and scrub near Four Mile Bridge and were expecting to use a 120-tonne digger to help clear scrub and manuka at the site.
Heavy rain and the lack of suitable earthmoving equipment have hampered the search.
But Mr Winter said the digger tipped over as it was being loaded on to a transporter. It had been used by Buller Electricity linesmen just a few kilometres from the search site.
Mr Winter said an eight-tonne digger was due on site this morning.
Heavy rain fell in the search area overnight and police are using a heavy pump to drain waterlogged areas.
- NZPA
