Survivor's disappearance puzzles cops

Concerns are growing for the whereabouts of a Christchurch woman whose car was found crashed down a bank three days ago - but there has been no sign of her.

Emma Campbell is believed to have crashed her car on Dyers Pass Rd in Christchurch's Port Hills on Saturday morning.

The car was found about 7.30am and police say tracks leading away from it indicate she managed to walk away.

An absence of large pools of blood or damage to the car such as a smashed windscreen indicate she was not severely injured.

The tracks lead down some steep terrain and on to a popular walking track but no one has seen the 29-year-old - despite two days of searching by police, volunteers, friends and family.

Search and Rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Craig Prior said the car had gone about 5m down the bank. He did not believe it had been a high-speed crash or that the car had rolled.

Mr Prior is hoping members of the public may have seen Ms Campbell, who is described as European and about 173cm tall with red hair, as she tried to find help from the crash site.

"It's a little bit of a walk [to help] either way but it's a well-used mountain bike, running track and it's the time of the day when people start to use it and possibly may have seen her."

Police say her mobile phone is still at her home and they are not sure what she was wearing when she crashed.

"There's no suspicion of foul play or anything criminal involved in it."

Mr Prior said a team of up to 14 were involved in yesterday's search. While it wasn't uncommon for people trapped in cars to be lost for several days, it was slightly more unusual to find a car but not the driver.

"Being a weekend and being in the rural area with parkland and tracks and so on it's surprising we haven't had any sightings of her," he said.

Anyone with information about Ms Campbell's whereabouts should call police on (03) 363-7400.