The week-long extensive search for missing Dunedin man David
Palmer has highlighted the need for a new command unit for
North Otago Search and Rescue, a $150,000 project started
last year, the organisation's vice-chairman says.
In the wake of the two recent fatalities in Mt Aspiring
National Park, national volunteer search and rescue
organisation LandSAR New Zealand is urging trampers, hunters
and climbers going into the back country this summer to do
all they can to help rescuers find them in an emergency.
"Reluctant heroes" Lionel Clay and Davie Robinson, of Wanaka,
have received national recognition for their part in a search
and rescue operation in April.
The "unofficial chairman" of Omarama-based Waitaki Search and
Rescue last year stole equipment from the organisation, then
made a false insurance claim for the property.
The work of Central Otago Search and Rescue has just become
easier, thanks to a grant enabling it to purchase 10 new
radio harnesses required for field work.
Rescuers looking for a Norwegian yacht with a crew of three
missing in the freezing waters of the Ross Sea in the
Antarctic had their hopes raised then swiftly dashed today
when they found a liferaft.
