Police and LandSAR teams continued to search fields near Balclutha today for a missing 79-year-old Romahapa man.
Ian Mathieson was reported missing at 1am yesterday.
His car was found stuck and abandoned in a paddock at the end of a farmer's race near State Highway 1 shortly after 4pm, Sergeant Martin Bull, of Balclutha, said.
''There's some footprints around the vehicle that indicate he's walked up the race.''
Mr Mathieson left a Clinton Lions Club meeting about 8pm on Wednesday and was heading home to Romahapa, but became ''disoriented'' and never made it.
His wife reported him missing and his black 2009 Nissan Maxima was the subject of a 15-hour search before a farmer noticed the car in his paddock.
It had been driven 3km down the farmer's race at Carterhope Rd.
The farmer alerted police and search and rescue crew
s from Owaka, Balclutha and Milton were called to look for Mr Mathieson, Sgt Bull said.
He said Mr Mathieson was diabetic but would not comment further on his health, saying only police believed he became lost while driving home.
''He's got a condition that indicates to us certain patterns of behaviour. Based on that when he was mobile we had different areas we were searching, but now that he is not mobile in terms of wheels it's a different search again.''
Mr Mathieson was seen about 8.30pm on Wednesday in Mill Rd off State Highway 1 between Clinton and Balclutha and was reported to be disoriented, Sgt Bull said.
He was seen again, further west, on nearby Moa Hill Rd, where he stopped briefly.
''It was a man he knew and they had a good talk for a while,'' Sgt Bull said.
''There was no indication that he was lost when he was talking to that person, but we believe he was lost.''
Dunedin police have asked residents in the Carterhope Rd area to check outbuildings. Anyone who picked up a hitchhiker in the area should call police on (03) 471-5002.
