Little Hope For Boys

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31775, 4 September 1968, Page 26

Little Hope For Boys

<N Z. Press Association) NELSON, Sept. 3. The police hold little hope' of finding alive the two Nelson College boys missing in the Luna hut area of the Wangapeka - Karamea track. The boys are Christopher Thomas Stewart, aged 17, and James William Simister, aged 16, both of Nelson. The Nelson police say they have enough evidence to restrict the search to the Luna hut area. They expect to find the boys by midday tomorrow. The boys were on a tramp

with another pupil, Stephen Mori, aged 16, in the rugged mountain and bush area from Wangapeka to Stag Flat, east of Karamea.

This morning a helicopter returning after carrying in a search party for a hunter, checked the Luna hut area at the request of the police and found Stephen Mori. He was in a distressed condition, ac cording to the pilot, Mr J. W Reid.

He told Mr Reid that he believed his companions had died from exhaustion and exposure in a snow storm. Luna hut is near the Wangapeka saddle, 3308 feet between Stag Flat and Wangapeka.

The search was originally for a missing Paraparaumu hunter, Kerry Silverwood aged 21. The police knew the three boys were in the area. It was also known that there was flooding. Mr Silverwood was found at the Stone Creek hut by the helicopter pilot on his way to Nelson with Stephen Mori. It is between Wangapeka and Luna hut Mr Silverwood has an injured leg. He and Stephen Mori were admitted to the Nelson Hospital this morning. The search for the missing boys was continued until dusk after the helicopter search had been abandoned because of deteriorating weather. The

ground search party is spending the night at the Luna hut and expects to resume at daylight