Search for overdue tramper

Press, 7 April 1988, Page 1

Search for overdue tramper

! Nelson reporter

Rescue parties will converge on {the Karamea end of the Heaphy Track today in search of an Auckland woman three weeks overdue on a tramping trip. Heather Anne Irving, aged 30, a nurse, was last seen at the Heaphy Hut on March 17. She failed to pick up a pack dispatched earlier to Westport and did a friend as arranged in Invercargill ' on March 23.

The police were alerted when she failed to return to work at an Auckland hospital on Tuesday. Constable Graeme Kennedy said from the search headquarters at Westport last evening that a helicopter from Karamea had searched ■ the area yesterday without finding any trace of Miss Irving. The helicopter party also took visitors’ books from the hut where Miss Irving checked in on March 16. The police were last evening trying to get in touch with a Christchurch man who had stayed at the hut at that time.

Miss Irving is described as 1.6 m (sft 4in) tall, of average build, with blue eyes, midbrown hair, and a fair complexion. She was travelling alone, carrying a day pack and a sleeping bag, but had walked with several different parties since reaching the; track from Collingwood on March 14. A few days before she began her tramp, the area of the Heaphy Track was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain, washing out some bridges on the track and causing severe flooding in places. Constable Kennedy said six teams of volunteers from Westport and Karamea would begin ground searches today between Kohaihai, the western entrance to the track, and the Heaphy Hut, 16km away. Coastal sections along the route would also be checked.