Three German tourists who found themselves lost, cold and wet while on a Sunday jaunt up the Moonlight Track sparked a full-blown search and rescue operation last night.
Land search and rescue personnel and volunteers found the two men and a woman this morning before dawn in a hypothermic state.
They were airlifted from Mount Ryall, near the junction of the Moonlight and Croesus tracks, and flown back to Greymouth for medical attention.
Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Watson, of Greymouth, said the trio had gone up to the top of the Paparoa Range before getting lost.
"They travelled up the Moonlight Track early yesterday. We got notification from them early yesterday evening that they had got lost," Mr Watson said.
"A land-based search and rescue team was dispatched around 11pm last night and located the group of three around 4.30am."
The group was assessed as hypothermic, being in a very exposed site "right up on the tops".
Mr Watson said the search team stayed with the cold and wet tourists, attempting to warm them up and get them dry before
the air rescue operation was started.
- By Brendon McMahon
