KEY POINTS:
Greymouth police hunting for an elderly man missing for a week will tomorrow mount an extensive land, air and water search in the region.
There have been no sightings of Joseph Lewis Butcher, of suburban Cobden, or his car since he left home on July 4.
Police have described his disappearance as extremely out of character.
Tomorrow police would extend their search for Mr Butcher, conducting a second helicopter and land search using the search and rescue team and volunteers, Senior Sergeant Tom Firmin told NZPA.
The helicopter would search the Grey River and surrounding river banks.
A whitewater rescue team would also search the river banks by canoe, Mr Firmin said.
A large foot and vehicle team would search the roads extending from Greymouth, southeast to inland Moana and south to Hokitika.
The search was scheduled to last one day, Mr Firmin said.
There have been no sightings of Mr Butcher since he disappeared.
He missed an appointment to visit his wife in a rest home last week. His bank account has not been touched and there was nothing from his phone records that would indicate he had to leave the area, police said.
Mr Butcher is described as European, 175cm tall with grey, balding hair. He is of generally good health and mentally he is extremely sharp.
Police are appealing to anyone sighting Mr Butcher's 1993 green Ford Festiva car, registration number SD3511, to contact them.
- NZPA
