Police extend search for Hamilton man Raymond Stirling.
Waikato police are continuing to search for a missing elderly man as they also go through possible sightings of the 84-year-old who hasn't been seen since Monday night.
Raymond Stirling had just finished a week-long holiday with family and been dropped at home in good spirits, his daughter Julie Caddigan earlier told the Herald.
He was last seen in his Halcione Close, Flagstaff, home by his in-home support worker at 7.30pm. When he was visited at 11am the next morning he wasn't home. A full-scale search has been carried out for the grandfather and former butcher since.
As well as suffering mild dementia, Stirling was known to wave down people to catch a ride.
Despite Stirling now missing for five days, Sergeant Vince Ranger says they had no information to indicate that Stirling wasn't alive and police were grateful to the support given by volunteers involved in LandSar crews.
"It's pretty huge support from the greater search and rescue community. When you get volunteers coming down from Auckland..and out of our district altogether who drop their jobs and their family life ... it's very humbling to get that sort of support from the volunteer groups."
Sergeant Vince Ranger says they will today go through the responses received from the public and any clues from yesterday's mass search around the 1km area. Photo/Belinda Feek
Ranger said the LandSar groups, from Auckland, Thames, Waihi, Hamilton, Waitomo, Tauranga, Rotorua, put in a "huge" effort" to cover the 1km search area.
Today was about "catching a breath" and going over and analysing the information they'd gathered from that and information that had been phoned in from members of the public.
However, despite the increase in calls, there weren't any so far which had a definitive match to Stirling.
"Most of them are all very general ... there's nothing that we have received so far that has been a definite sighting."
The other focus for today was planning the search effort, which will again include out of town LandSar crews, for tomorrow.
Raymond Stirling's daughter Julie Caddigan says the family are concerned for their father's safety. Photo/Belinda Feek
"We're looking at bringing in as many of those search groups again looking at the wider area and making a big push tomorrow too."
Police were still treating the operation as a search and not a recovery, he said.
"Absolutely. We would go into a recovery phase when we knew someone was deceased so that's not part of our focus at all. Our focus is to find Raymond and we will maintain that focus as long as we can."
Police are still seeking sightings of Raymond Stirling. People are urged to phone 111.
