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Fifty searchers, a police helicopter with infrared equipment, fire services, ambulances and police were involved in a major search late last night after a hoax phone call claimed a prominent racing identity was trapped and injured in his car in the freezing Kaimai Ranges.
The three-hour search in dense bush along 20km of SH 29 between Matamata and Tauranga was called off just after 9.30pm, after enquiries by the Herald on Sunday.
Police had earlier confirmed they had received a call from a woman, who claimed to be the man's partner, at 6.24pm. She said the man's BMW had plunged off the road, trapping him inside the smoking car. The man texted her several times but was unable to give his exact location before his mobile phone battery ran out.
Five fire engines, at least four police cars and two ambulances scoured for where the man's car had left the road, as temperatures dropped towards freezing. The police Eagle helicopter was dispatched from Auckland and was in the air for 45 minutes before the search was called off, after the Herald on Sunday spoke to man's partner. Tauranga police last night said the helicopter alone would have cost at least $2000; an enquiry into the hoax had been launched. "We are hunting for the woman who made the call," said Senior Sergeant Carl Purcell. "This is a great waste of resources, looking for someone ... trapped in a car with smoke apparently coming from it."
Rescue officers at the scene said they had not dealt with this kind of hoax before, and it was discouraging for volunteers. The family of the man last night said he had recently started a business and "there was a lot of nonsense going on".
His partner's mother said "people are saying all manner of things to try and break the business before it starts".
Fears grew for the man throughout the search, as the temperature plunged. Searchers walked both sides of the road in the cold and dark using high-powered torches, concerned that the man may have hypothermia.
Locals said cars often went off the road. "It's very steep down there," ranger Warren Geraghty said. "The last time I was down there, there were a couple of cars, just jammed in the creek. It was quite freaky."
