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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/ ... ant-to-die-up-there
An English tramper has made a heartfelt thank-you to the trampers who raised the alarm that he was missing.
''I owe them my life,'' James Esbester said at a press conference in Nelson this morning.
Esbester, 30, was found by the Summit Rescue Helicopter last night suffering from only mild hypothermia after being missing in rough country in the Wangapeka track area of the Kahurangi National Park.
A massive search began for Esbester on Saturday night, after a group of trampers found some of his gear at Stone Hut, on the Wangapeka Track.
Esbester had left a note with his gear saying he intended to climb nearby Mt Luna and be back at 1pm on Thursday.
Last night the helicopter had been sent to check remote huts to eliminate them from the search when the pilot spotted Esbester waving. He was about 10km from Mt Luna and well off his intended route.
Esbester, from Portsmouth, England, was treated by paramedics at Venus Hut and flown to Nelson Hospital with only suspected mild hypothermia.
He was discharged from Nelson Hospital later in the evening.
Esbester said he became disoriented on the top of Mt Luna, and took the wrong ridge down.
He ended up following a stream for the days he was missing. He now knows the stream was the Kinzett Stream which flows into the Crow River.
Esbester said he stopped first in a small clearing, after falling and badly cutting his arm.
He later moved to a larger clearing where he knew he would have more chance of being spotted by rescuers if someone had raised the alarm that he was missing.
Esbester said he had only snack food with him, as he had set out on a day tramp, and had eaten most of that by the end of the first afternoon.
By the time he was rescued, he had not eaten for 5-1/2 days.
''I suppose I was hungry, but not in the sense I had any gnawing pains. I was just getting more and more tired each day.''
The weather was fine, but the nights were freezing, even though he had thermals, another layer of clothes, waterproof clothing and an emergency blanket.
Esbester said he could see only about 50cm in front of him without glasses. When he set out on the day tramp, he was wearing contact lenses, which he had to take out on the second day because they were so uncomfortable.
This made his progress slower as he could not see clearly more than 50cm in front of him.
Esbester said he decided to wait in the clearing and built a ''rickety'' wooden shelter to sleep in, and spelt out the word ''help'' in wood.
His main concern was whether someone had reported him missing, as he knew that search and rescue crews would do a fantastic job looking for him and he would eventually be found.
Last night, he had just gone to bed for what would have been his third night in the shelter when he heard a helicopter flying nearby.
He said it was a ''huge relief'' to hear it and be rescued and words could not describe how he felt. It was also a surprise and great to see a familiar face, and his father at the hospital last night.
Esbester's father, Mark Esbester, said getting the phone call last night and hearing his son was alive and well had been ''fantastic''.
James's brother and his partner are due to arrive in Nelson tomorrow.
Mark Esbester was partway through a holiday in Australia when he was contacted by police, who told him his son was missing.
He said yesterday his son had been travelling and doing odd jobs, many computer-related, to pay for his travel since finishing maths and physics study at university.
Search and Rescue incident controller Sergeant Mike Fitzsimon said 100 people had been involved in the search, including an airforce helicopter.
Volunteers were from Golden Bay, Motueka, Nelson, Tapawera and the West Coast area.
It was the biggest search in the Nelson region in the last couple of years.
''We are obviously really happy with the result and that James is sitting here safe and well and able to continue on with his holiday.''
Fitzsimon said Esbester had done a number of things right including, most crucially, recording his intentions in track books which had led to searchers knowing he was missing.
If he had a map and a compass, or a GPS unit, and used them it might have assisted him when he got disoriented.
He said the message for people going into the back country they needed to take the right gear including a personal locator beacon.
- The Nelson Mail |
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发表于 22-4-2011 11:14:38
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