KEY POINTS:
Police in Wanaka are preparing to rescue a school party of 35 trapped by rising waters in the Mt Aspiring National Park.
Sergeant Aaron Nicholson said the group of 31 schoolboys and four teachers from Otago Boys' High School had spent the night at the Rock of Ages bivouac in the Kitchener Glacier area.
"It's raining quite heavily here and they're trapped by rising river levels," Mr Nicholson said.
Police had received a mountain radio report that the boys were cold and hungry "and a couple aren't too well", he said.
The weather was marginal for a helicopter rescue so a party of search and rescue volunteers was being prepared to head into the area this afternoon.
Mr Nicholson said no major injuries had been reported in the group.
"They said a couple of them are sick, and I'd imagine they'd be a bit miserable with the cold," he said.
Otago Boys' High deputy rector John Middlemiss said it appeared everyone was safely awaiting rescue.
"I've been assured that everybody is safe and well and that it's just a precautionary measure because they're dealing with young people," he said.
The group, comprising Year 10 pupils aged 14 and 15, together with some senior boys and teachers, had been staying at the school's Mt Aspiring lodge.
Mr Middlemiss said he was unsure why the party had ended up at the Rock of Ages bivouac. He had heard from police but had not spoken to anyone from the group.
"They could possibly have been on their overnight camp, I just don't know," he said.
"Police have let us know that everything is under control and that there is no panic."
- NZPA
