Cold night for injured tourist

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 10

Cold night for injured tourist

PA Wanganui An English tourist spend Monday night lost on Mount Ngauruhoe in freezing conditions after she fell 300 m down the southern slopes of the mountain. A search and rescue party found the woman, aged 21, whose name was not available, at 8.20 a.m. yesterday. She was flown to Waikato Hospital with head abrasions, mild hypothermia and a compound fracture of a leg. Senior-Sergeant Neville Haggart, of Wanganui, said the woman and a tourist companion were 300 m from the summit of the mountain when the accident happened, at 4.30 p.m. She fell an estimated 300 m and could not be found by her companion. A helicopter was called in to help with the search,

but by nightfall the woman had not been found.

A 17-member search party was flown into the area yesterday. Four Wanganui police, headed by Sergeant Darryl Nix, went with the party. It comprised Waiouru soldiers, Conservation Department workers, and outdoor pursuit club members. Senior-Sergeant Haggart said the search began yesterday at 5.30 a.m. on the southern slopes of the mountain. The woman’s companion had not been able to pinpoint where she fell, and the terrain was very rough.

“It was ice-pick and crampon work,” SeniorSergeant Haggart said.

The woman, who was well equipped, was found at 8.20 a.m„ “fairly well down the mountain.”