KEY POINTS:
Emergency incidents around the country have had police and rescue teams "flat-tack" over this holiday period.
Included in the string of incidents police dealt with just yesterday were:
* Two women went missing overnight after taking a short walk on Ponui Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf. They were found yesterday morning.
* Two adults and a child scrambled to safety near Bluff after their boat sank. The child was treated for hypothermia.
* A tramper with a dislocated hip was taken from the St Arnaud Range south of Nelson.
* Water rescues were carried out on Lake Wanaka and Akaroa Harbour.
* Two men were pulled from the water in Nelson after their runabout sank.
* Three ill-prepared trampers rescued after a night in the West Cost bush.
"It's absolutely flat-tack," Inspector Warren Kemp, of southern police communications told The Dominion Post.
"It's everywhere. It's the holiday season."
Last night, a helicopter joined the West Coast search for the three missing trampers, finding them about 9pm.
Three other young men, also dressed only in shorts and t-shirts, yesterday walked out after a night under a makeshift shelter next to the Rangitata River.
The men, aged between 17 and 22, had floated down the river on a toy raft and an inflatable plane at 9pm on Tuesday. When they had not meet a female friend by midnight, the alarm was raised and a search was started early yesterday.
"This sort of behaviour is crazy and people shouldn't go boating without the correct boats and equipment," said Sergeant Mike Wingfield, of the Timaru police.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington has responded to 38 callouts in the past week.
Yesterday the Westpac rescue helicopter flew to a boat in Sleepy Bay, Banks Peninsula, where a distress beacon was inadvertently set off, Rescue Co-ordination Centre officer Dave Wilson said.
"They had no form of communications on board the boat. Eventually, they picked up their beacon and saw that it was active," Mr Wilson said.
- NZPA
