Two men missing after Twizel 4WD trip found

Two men are missing just outside of Twizel. PHOTO/FILE

The two men who were reported missing on a four-wheel drive trip in Twizel have been found.

A police spokeswoman said they were found at Kennedy Hut in the Dobson River Valley three days after they were supposed to come home. A search and rescue crew are currently working to get the men out of the bush. The spokeswoman wasn't sure if that would happen today as it depends on conditions.

The men, believed to be Carl Peterson and Damien Collaud of Twizel, were reported missing after they didn't turn up to work this morning.

Peterson's sister Debbie Peterson said they were getting a bit stressed out but received a satellite message from the men saying they were ok.

"That's a good sign hearing a message, you always think the worst."

A basic search and rescue team was deployed to check if they were stuck in Dobson River Valley.

4X4 Events Inc president Craig Fraser earlier said he hadn't heard of anyone going missing which made him think the men were probably not associated to a club.

"They could possibly be stuck behind a river that has come up and they've decided to play it safe... I don't think the sasquatch has grabbed them."

In May this year 38 people were rescued after their 13 four-wheel drives got trapped in a Central Otago snow storm for 20 hours.

Snowbanks of up to 2m blocked the roads, with strong winds and poor visibility making rescue efforts almost impossible.

Several attempts to get a helicopter to the convoy were aborted, and even a Defence Force chopper called in to help could not reach them because of conditions. Eventually the weather cleared enough to allow two Thundercat snowmobiles to reach the group just before nightfall.