Little hope held for hunters

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33539, 21 May 1974, Page 14

Little hope held for hunters

A police search will continue this morning for three hunters believed swept away while crossing the Hokuri Creek in Fiordland.

The packs, rifles, and food belonging to the men were found on the bank, on the creek and showed signs of having been there for several days. On Saturday, searchers found footprints leading into the creek, and it is thought the men might have been swept away while trying to cross the -river. The men are Graham Arthur Bannan, aged 25, Anthony Charles Walter Mayo, aged 31, both of Kaiapoi, and lan Norman Asquith, aged 29, of Belfast. Constable D. J. Wisely, of Te Anau, said last evening that little hope was held for finding the men alive. “After a rainfall, the river could fluctuate by three or four feet, and we think rain might have fallen in the Hokuri catchment last week.

“One thing very unusual about this incident is that there' is no sign of any of the three men. Usually at least one is able to survive and get help. “It is the strangest accident I have been involved in,” said Constable Wisely. Radio communication with the four searchers in the area was prevented by poor reception yesterday. Another .hunter, Clifford

Mason, aged 49, of Gore, is missing, in the area of the North Arm of Lake Manapouri, the Press Association reports. Mr Mason failed to rendezvous with another deerstalker on Sunday. A search began yesterday and will continue today.