The Taupo-based Greenlea Rescue Helicopter is ferrying two trampers out of Te Urewera National Park after one injured their shoulder. Photo / NZME
The Taupo-based Greenlea Rescue Helicopter is ferrying two trampers out of Te Urewera National Park after one injured their shoulder. Photo / NZME
A tramper is being flown out of a North Island national park after spending a night in the open with an injured shoulder.
Rescue Co-ordination Centre senior search and rescue officer John Dickson said a 69-year-old man and a 14-year-old youth were being ferried to a hut for treatment afterone of them was hurt on the first day of a tramp into the Te Urewera National Park.
The pair had activated a personal locator beacon at about 5pm and a search was mounted on foot late last night after low cloud and poor visibility prevented any hope of being rescued by air.
Ground crews and a rescue helicopter reach the pair at 6.15am.
Dickson said the pair were being winched to the nearby Makomako Hut before being transported to hospital for further treatment.
Dickson said the cloud had come down below 600m in the remote wilderness by yesterday evening as a weather front passed over the region. The distressed trampers had already ascended well above the height during the day as they headed towards the Makomako Hut.