His mother is desperate for answers and details of the search, and she needs help coming to New Zealand to be near her only son.
He was here on a working holiday visa, and it was his dream to travel the world after finishing school.
The mother of a young man missing after a fall in remote South Island wilderness is struggling to cope from the other side of the world but is holding out hope her only son is still alive.
Hector Gaston Artigau, 21, of Argentina, was last seen four days ago after he fell from a rock and into a river during a tramping trip in Mt Aspiring National Park.
His mother, Adriana Colamarde, is desperate for details about the search effort and wants support to urgently travel here.
Artigau was on the Rob Roy Glacier Track when the accident happened around 4.30pm on Thursday.
Hector Gaston Artigau (centre), 21, of Argentina, has been missing since last Thursday after falling into water in Mt Aspiring National Park in the South Island. Photo / Supplied
Hiking partners Santiago Ponce and Blas, whose surname was not provided, suddenly lost sight of Artigau. They then spotted his hat floating in the river and began screaming for help.
Artigau is the sole child of Adriana Colamarde, who is anxious to travel to New Zealand to be nearer her son. They are from Pergamino, a small city in Buenos Aires Province.
His English teacher, Andina Kallenbach, told the Herald his mother was struggling to cope with being so far from her son, but was hoping he would be found alive. Kallenbach also shared details about Artigau.
Kallenbach said it was Artigau’s dream to travel the world and New Zealand was the first place he wanted to go. He had been on a working holiday visa since last September.
Artigau is the sole child of Adriana Colamarde, who is anxious to travel to New Zealand to be nearer her son. They are from Pergamino, a small city in Buenos Aires Province. Photo / Supplied
She said Colamarde was desperate for details of the search, needed financial support to come to New Zealand, was worried about getting a visa to travel here, and was anxious about the language and cultural barriers she could face.
Kallenbach said of Colamarde: “She is getting desperate and we need government help, it’s not something that we can do by ourselves.
“Nobody deserves having a son in this situation and being so far, and nobody deserves going through not having your family there if you’re found alive and injured.
“A mother needs to be there to have and protect her son. She is having a terribly hard time. I have no words to express what the family is going through,” she said from Argentina.
Kallenbach said the New Zealand Police, the New Zealand Embassy in Argentina, and the Embassy of Argentina, had few details to share of the incident or the search effort, leaving a family desperate for answers in the dark.
“It’s not only the distance, but also the uncertainty, the lack of answers saying at least ‘okay, we are looking, we haven’t found yet, but tomorrow we will continue', they have empty information,” Kallenbach said.
This morning a police spokeswoman said there were no new updates in the search for the missing tramper.
“The search ... is continuing today. Wanaka Land Search and Rescue Canyon, River Rescue, and scuba specialised teams are involved in the search.
“We would like to thank Aspiring Helicopters as they assist with aerial searches and transporting search teams into the area.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
