News
A 57-year-old American tourist who fell to his death on a popular day walk in the Mt Cook National Park yesterday was inexperienced in the alpine environment, say police.
The man left no record of his intentions with anyone but was seen leaving Mueller Hut at about 1.45pm, walking down a poled route.
He was reported overdue at 5pm and his body was spotted in a narrow, rocky gorge during an aerial search this morning.
It is believed that he may have missed the turnoff on the track back to Sealy Tarns and continued down a ridge before slipping and falling to his death.
He suffered extensive injuries to his body and head.
"He was described as fit, and a keen walker, although he had very little experience of moving in the alpine environment," said Senior Constable Brent Swanson, of Twizel police.
His death was a stark reminder that New Zealand's alpine environment was unforgiving and should not be underestimated, he said.
His travelling companion who reported him missing was still in Mt Cook Village. She was upset and being comforted by Victim Support Staff, Mr Swanson said.
The American Embassy had yet to contact him family and his name would not be released until his relatives had been notified.
-NZPA
Over the weekend, a CIMS course was held in Timaru and was attended by 18 Police and volunteers.
The course introduces the CIMS (Coordinated Incident Management System) model of managing a search. It helps us break down the functions that should be carried out during a search, and provides a way of grouping various functions carried out in a search.
While CIMS biggest strength is that of a common structure for use with different agencies, it is a very scalable system, useful in a small search and can be scaled up to a major incident.
On Saturday the tutors taught us about the system, the functions and principles and how it relates to SAR.
On Sunday we worked through a series of scenarios. Each person performed the duties in each of the four main roles, Incident Controller, Planing and Intel, Operations and Logistics, putting together an Incident Action Plan for a period of the search.
For many on the course, their new skills will be put to good use helping in an Incident Management Team. Other members came away with a better understanding of how they can support the management team during an incident.
The Suburban Search course was held over the weekend in Timaru, and was attended by 21 enthusiastic Police and volunteers, including groups from Red Cross and Civil Defence.
The course included a number of practical exercises and on the Sunday morning trainees were taken to a residential area, and asked to search the area. Dealing with the public, and using radios to report 'finds' were highlights of the practical exercise. The 'finds' were chocolates hidden around the area just before the search started, and 'mouth to mouth' was reportedly required for a number of the found parties
The training weekend was int erupted on the Saturday night with a real search around the coast of Timaru. Having teams on hand at the Police station resulted in faster than normal deployment. It is a reminder to us that we can be called out at any time, and to keep our gear ready. Many members are going to put an extra torch battery in their kit after finding themselves unexpectedly searching beaches in the dark of night.
Three members attended a training course in Christchurch at the weekend. IMan and GMan are computer programs adopted by NZLSAR for managing the huge amount of information gathered during a search operation. The newly formed 'Base Support Crew' will log information, record clues found, and tasks assigned to field teams by Incident Management Team members.
This was a two day event involving the Police, Volunteers and AREC in the South Canterbury and Upper Waitaki Areas. This annual exercise was held at the Huxley Gorge, Twizel School Outdoor Pursuits Centre.
The program included skill stations on the Saturday with activities in areas such as initial planning, Dog Handling and team work, Transceivers, GPS/Navigation, IT, Search Methods, TCA and Clue Processing, a Question and Answer Session to find out what SAR People wanted in the future, an 'entertaining group SAR Pursuits Question Game and ending with the generator driven video of the 'foggy rugby'.
On the Sunday, there was a missing party of 4 'people'. Teams were formed and deployed out to the Temple Basin area to find the missing parties. The IMT included a mixture of Police and Volunteers and the newly formed Base support Crew was deployed and for the first time in Mid-South Canterbury was able to use the IMAN/GMAN program to assist the search. All 5 people were found.
Both days were attended by 46 people including the two cooks who did an extra wonderful job and provided a mountain of food using no electricity and wet wood. There was been lots of positive feedback and everyone looking forward to the next SAREX. Thanks to those who organised this SAREX.
The May meeting of the Mid-South Canterbury SAR Group ws held at the Timaru Police Station at 1930hrs. The meeting was attended by a number of volunteers and Police.
At the meeting, a number of issues were discussed including the impending District SAREX and the list of resource to be purchased from the grant that the group has received. The AGM is 14th June. Minutes are found in the members section. Next meeting is 9th August 2006.
This years regional SAREX was attended by Timaru SAR members Teressa, Peter, Rhys and Neil. The Timaru Police also had a team present. In all there were over 100 people attending the event. It was held at Mt Thomas, behind Oxford North Canterbury.
The Search and Rescue Website underwent another round of updates today. You will notice changes to most pages, and a new Training page. The Site Administration area has also been updated.
The February meeting of the Mid/South Canterbury SAR group was held at the Timaru Police station on 8 Feb 2006. The meeting was attended by a number of volunteers and police including two new faces, Rhys and Ryan. At the meeting, a number of issues were discussed including the impending district and regional SAREX's.
The Regional SAREX will be held on the 31 March to 2nd April 2006 at Mount Thomas. The District SAREX will be held at the End of May.
On 27 November 2005, the Mid-South Canterbury SAR Group was involved in the South Canterbury Rose Festival held at Caroline Bay in Timaru. The day dawned bright and sunny. Working with the Mount Cook Rescue Team, we produced a tent full of information and photos on SAR and previous call-outs and exercises. We were also lucky to involve the rescue helicopter that works at Mount Cook and complete a short public display on rescue techniques.
This was favourably received by the members of the public and had the 'wow factor' with the kids. Police, Mount Cook and Search and Rescue volunteers were on hand to discuss any matters with the 10,000 members of the public that wandered through the festival through out the day. The South Canterbury Community Trust whom supported both the festival and SAR in Mid and South Canterbury were on hand for the photos. A good day was completed with a BBQ.
