Rescuers are combing a Horowhenua forestry block as they search for a missing 10-year-old boy who suffers from asthma.
Alexander Fisher, also known from Alex, disappeared from a domain at Waitarere Forrest, near Levin.
Police said he was last seen in the early hours of this morning by his family, but a spokeswoman had no information about what he was doing there.
Alex has brown hair, is 1.52m tall and was wearing a red hooded sweat shirt, blue shorts and black shoes. He might also be carrying a green or blue puffer jacket and light grey tracksuit pants.
Police and Search and Rescue teams with dog units are combing the forest and beach to try to find Alex and rescuers are asking the public to stay away while the dogs work to find tracks in the area.
Hyderabad Holiday Park and Waitarere Beach Motor Camp owner Deborah Nichol said police helicopters were at work. "The place is crawling with cops and LandSAR guys."
She said the southern block of the forest, where rescuers were, was about 15 sq km.
"It's not huge. Roughly we're looking at between four-and-a-half and five kilometres from the southern entrance to Hokio Beach and then it's about three or four kilometres wide."
Mrs Nichol found out about the search mid-morning after campers were stopped by police in the domain, just behind the camp.
Tony Strawbridge, who runs the Windy Waves Bed and Breakfast, said the temperature in the seaside town today was about 15C or 16C.
The southern block of forest, where the search was concentrated, was a fenced area with cycle tracks.
"It would be very hard to get lost in there," Mr Strawbridge said.
"As locals we've been asked just to keep out of the forest. They've got a helicopter I've seen going up and [the searchers] are using the local fire station as a base."
