KEY POINTS:
Teams of searchers will remain in the Kahurangi National Park overnight in their hunt for Mapua man Steve Thornborrow, who has "gone bush" in the northern South Island.
Mr Thornborrow, 51, and an experienced tramper, was last seen near a hut in the Mt Arthur area on Tuesday. Family members found his four-wheel-drive vehicle parked in the Flora carpark leading into the national park on Wednesday afternoon.
While Mr Thornborrow was an experienced tramper and knew the area well, it was out of character for him to go away without notifying family. He was the victim of a fire that destroyed a house he'd been renovating about a week ago.
Mr Thornborrow's sister, Kelsey Gull, said he had been devastated by the loss of all his possessions.
"He'd just got everything done and had only finished painting the deck that morning," she told The Press newspaper.
Ms Gull said she hoped her brother had simply taken a few days out to think things over.
Police called in an air force Iroquois helicopter to help the search yesterday and more searchers joined the hunt today.
Motueka Search and Rescue co-ordinator John Haynes said a private helicopter had also been used today and the search area had been extended to include more remote tracks and huts in the national park.
Most of the 24 search teams of three or four people including two teams of specialist search dogs, would remain in the field overnight, with some people who had been involved in the search for two days taking a break.
Mr Haynes said searchers had been scouring the park for any signs of Mr Thornborrow, such as footprints in streams and in muddy patches on tracks, and it was frustrating that "nothing at all" had been found.
The fact Mr Thornborrow might not want to be found was a "complicating factor", Mr Haynes said.
More volunteers were expected to join the search at first light tomorrow.
- NZPA
