Hector Gaston Artigau, 21, went missing last week while tramping with friends on the Rob Roy Glacier track after he fell from a rock and into a river.
Friends Blas Antonelli and Santiago Ponce were with him on the hike when they lost track of their friend and then saw his hat in the river.
Mr Artigau travelled to New Zealand last year from Argentina and was working as a cherry picker at Leaning Rock Cherries in Alexandra, when he met Mr Antonelli and Mr Ponce.
Police and friends had struggled to get in touch with the family in Argentina after he went missing but were finally able to track down some members, including Mr Artiau’s mother over the weekend.
After speaking to his mother, friends and staff at Leaning Rock started a Givealittle page to help Mr Artigau’s mother come to New Zealand.
A Leaning Rock employee who didn’t want to be named said a group of them just wanted to do what they could to help.
"Friends and work friends, on behalf of Hector, want to try and do anything we can to help his mum get over here.
"We [came] up with the idea of a Givealittle because it’s one of the ways we can help.
"We just wanted to do what we can to help Blas, Santiago, and Hector’s mum and family."
The money is set to go towards flights, visa, a translator and any other travel costs to allow Mr Artigau’s mother to help in finding her son.
Local police and Search and Rescue are continuing their efforts to find Mr Artigau with a large-scale search starting today.
Police confirmed they will be sending specialty search and rescue units, including land search and rescue canyon, river rescue, and sub-alpine search and rescue.
The search will also involve an aerial scan of the Rob Roy Stream area in its entirety, and underwater cameras.
After being closed for the weekend, the Rob Roy track has now reopened, but people are being advised to look out for police signage indicating specific search areas.
— Rawan Saadi
