Pig-hunting teens safe after 3 days in the bush

Pig dogs were flown out of the bush in an Air Force Iroquois helicopter as searchers worried they would prey on birds if left there.Photo / Alan Gibson

Three teenage pig hunters missing for 72 hours were themselves scouring dense bush in search of their 13-year-old cousin, completely unaware he had returned home.

The community in Ruatoki Valley, south of Whakatane, breathed a collective sigh of relief when the teenagers were found yesterday.

Two 15-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy wandered on horseback for three days in the Ureweras thinking their younger cousin was lost on the steep, rugged slopes.

After becoming separated on Saturday afternoon, the 13-year-old had ridden out as nightfall approached.

When the cousins had not returned by Monday afternoon, the family informed police. A team of 40 search and rescue staff from Whakatane, Gisborne and Tauranga helped locate the hunters, who were uninjured, near the Ohaua stream at 9.30am yesterday.

"They weren't going to come home without him," said Ngahina marae spokesperson Nikora Taipeta.

"We were a little bit worried. But they often set off on Friday, come back three days later. They had swannis and gumboots and they know the lie of the land."

He down-played the danger the boys were in, but police were worried enough to call in an Air Force Iroquois helicopter.

"We don't normally call on the chopper until the third day," said Sergeant Andrew O'Reilly.

"But with cool weather and knowing the age of the boys, and that they hadn't brought much food with them, we had to act quickly."

Just half an hour after the teenagers were flown back to the marae, a freezing wind swept across the Ureweras and heavy rain began to fall.

Mr O'Reilly said the searchers had been worried the boys had been caught on the wrong side of the Whakatane River catchment, which would have forced them to walk 10km out of the bush in terrible conditions.

"This was a one-off case ... these kids are brought up in the valley and know what they're doing. But we had to be sure. I would rather do 100 searches with this result than come out of there with a body."

Mr Taipeta said the 50 people gathered at the marae quickly changed their preparation of comfort food into a celebratory feast for the boys' safe return.

The 13-year-old was not criticised for misleading his cousins, but he was placed on kitchen duties while they were missing.

"We made him peel potatoes last night. He knows what he has done."

The cousins left three horses at least two kilometres into the mountains, but expected them to amble home over the next few days. The four pig dogs were flown out of the bush as searchers were concerned they would prey on local birds if left to stray.