Daring pilot and mountain radio save trampers

A mountain radio and a daring helicopter pilot may have saved the lives of trampers stranded in a wild West Coast storm in the Whitcombe Ranges last night.

Four Christchurch trampers reached the Whitcombe River near Hokitika yesterday to find high river levels prevented a crossing.

Wet and cold, the group came within metres of shelter at Neave Hut but could not cross the swollen river.

Two developed hypothermia after one became saturated while trying to reach the other side with ropes. Fierce flow forced him back.

Around 5pm the trampers, aged from 23 to 32, decided to stay put and seek help on their mountain radio.

Police search and rescue coordinator Sean Judd activated a rescue operation after New Zealand Mountain Radio Service signalled the alarm.

Weather conditions were bad at the time and few helicopter pilots would have been willing to fly, he said. But one pilot, Mark Reid, agreed to go in from Greymouth.

Search and rescue found the trampers at 6.45pm from a Solid Energy rescue helicopter, with the doors held open for visibility.

Mr Judd said he did not think at first that the trampers could be rescued because rough and steep terrain in the area made it impossible for the helicopter to land.

Rescuers feared that the group would not make the night, he said.

Fortunately, the trampers were reached and safely hover-loaded two at a time down the valley, where emergency services took them for treatment at Hokitika.

Two were in a serious condition suffering from hypothermia.

Mr Judd said the group was extremely lucky. Rescuers on foot would not have been able to reach them due to high river levels.

The fact that they carried a mountain radio had probably saved their lives, he said.

- NZPA