Man and injured boy found after freezing night in open

Tamlyn Stewart | 15th July 2010

A 47-year-old Rotorua man and a 7-year-old boy have been found after getting lost and spending a night in freezing temperatures near Lake Rotoiti.

Rotorua police Search and Rescue squad, Coastguard and Heli-Pro were called out to search for the pair who went missing near the lake.

The pair reported they were lost about 4pm on Monday.

Search and rescue squad members and volunteers searched for the pair through the night.

The temperature dropped to minus 1C overnight in Rotorua and Springfield weatherman Brian Holden said the temperature may well have been colder at the lake.

Detective Sergeant John Wilson of the Rotorua police said they were notified about 4pm on Monday that two people were lost in the Rotoiti Scenic Reserve.

The pair had managed to make contact by cellphone to summon help.

Police, Coastguard, Heli-Pro, Department of Conservation staff and volunteers searched through the night until 3am.

"We regrouped at daybreak. We called in teams from Murupara and Tauranga and Department of Conservation."

Searchers continued looking for the pair yesterday morning and they were found by a search helicopter about 9.30am yesterday.

"They were found on a bluff on the northern shores of Lake Rotoiti," he said.

Mr Wilson said the man and child were both cold and the child had an injury to one of his eyes. The 7-year-old was taken to Rotorua Hospital.

"Considering the conditions they were very lucky."

Mr Wilson said the man, an acquaintance of the boy's family, had been putting out a possum line.

He said the pair weren't prepared to be out overnight.

"They were reasonably clothed but they weren't prepared.

"Our big concern was the child. An adult can spend a night in the cold and be okay, but a child of that age - that was the thing driving our concern."

"They should've been better prepared," he said.