Concerns are growing for a 79-year-old South Otago man who has been missing since Wednesday night.
From 7am yesterday, the search effort for Ian Mathieson - which involved three helicopters, three specialist search dogs and LandSAR crews, and members of the community, numbering 50 searchers in total - scoured farmland near Balclutha but there was no trace of the Romahapa man.
As the second night of searching began yesterday, incident controller Senior Constable Don Peat, of Dunedin, said the search would largely still focus on the farmland surrounding Mr Mathieson's abandoned black 2009 Nissan Maxima car.
When the physical search ended last night, a ''managing team'' would continue through the night to review the search and plan this morning's effort.
''We really want to get a result for the family. Given this is the second night, we're really concerned but we're definitely hopeful of a good outcome,'' he said.
''It appears as though it should be a simple search, but there is no such thing as a simple search.''
Mr Mathieson's wife reported her husband missing about 1am on Thursday when the Clinton Lions Club member failed to return from a meeting that ended about 8pm on Wednesday.
He had been spotted twice on Wednesday night, in Mill Rd and later in nearby Moa Hill Rd, and police believed Mr Mathieson, a diabetic with ''ageing issues'', had become disoriented and was lost on his way home.
Police searched roads in the area between Clinton and Romahapa throughout the day on Thursday, but then a farmer near Carterhope Rd noticed Mr Mathieson's car stuck in the mud in one of his paddocks.
His footprints led away from the car.
Thursday night's search from 5pm to 1am yielded nothing.
Senior Constable Murray Hewitson, of Owaka, said Mr Mathieson was dressed lightly and was wearing ''street shoes'', not the type that would typically be worn when slogging through paddocks in the winter.
''Normally you would expect in those muddy conditions ... his footprint would be very foreign to that area and we've only picked them up near the vehicle,'' Snr Const Hewitson said.
''We're not picking up anything.''
The former farmer's family had been regularly updated.
Police have asked residents in the Carterhope Rd area to check outbuildings.
Anyone who saw a person fitting the description of Mr Mathieson, or who picked up a hitchhiker in the area, should call police on (03) 471-5002.
