Missing Man Located

Northland District Headquarters
Walton Plaza, Whangärei
Wednesday July 30, 2008

Whangärei Police have located a missing 32-year-old Tikipunga man, who has a serious medical condition.

The man was last seen at his Tikipunga home at 4 pm yesterday.
He suffers from epilepsy and has seizures everyday. As a result of the constant seizures he has slow speech and needs to take medication up to three times a day.

Police received a call this morning from North Shore Hospital to say that the man had turned up safe and well.

Apparently he had hitch hiked from Whangärei to Auckland.

About 15 Police Search and Rescue staff and Northland LandSAR (Land Search and Rescue) volunteers had been searching the Denby Golf Course area, which is near the man's home.

Meanwhile a pig hunter that went missing in the Waitangi Forest has turned up safe and well.

The 60-year-old man went into the forest yesterday with his wife. At about 4.30pm the man's dogs got the scent of a pig and the man ran after them.
The dogs then returned without the man and his wife, concerned about his safety, alerted Police.

Twenty two people, including Police Search and Rescue and Northland LandSAR volunteers, spent last night in severe weather conditions searching for the man.

About 8am this morning the man was located walking along the road.
He had slipped down a gully while chasing after his dogs yesterday and injured his ankle.
He then decided to bed down for the night and built himself a shelter.

The man's ankle suffered a minor twist and he did not need any medical treatment.
Police say due to the strong wind and rain the man most likely did not hear the searchers' calls and whistles.

Northland Police Operations Manager Inspector Murray Hodson says Police and volunteer staff demonstrated excellent skills and knowledge in atrocious weather conditions and successfully located the pig hunter.

"One of the clear messages we need to communicate to people is that they need to check the immediate and long term weather forecast before venturing out, as the conditions can change quite fast."

Mr Hodson says Police staff and volunteers put themselves at extreme risk in searching for missing people and the rescues are carried out at a huge financial cost.

"It defies logic as to why people want to go out in such bad conditions when they could wait a couple of days for the weather to settle."

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