Missing Canoeists Located

At about 6.00 pm yesterday Rotorua Police were advised of a pair of missing canoeists, who had become overdue on a trip down the Rangitaiki River, near Murupara.

The pair, aged in their 60's set off from Murupara, intending to canoe down to the Aniwhenua Dam, a distance of some 20 kilometres. The alarm was raised by the person who had dropped them off at the start of the journey.

Initially a helicopter was used to search the Rangitaiki River from Murupara to Lake Aniwhenua and later, once darkness precluded an aerial search from continuing, a raft was deployed down the river from Murupara.

The couple were located at about 10.30 pm by Police search & rescue staff searching from the raft.

The overdue couple had tipped out of their canoe, lost their paddle, and had become stranded in an area of the river surrounded by high impenetrable scrub, and unable to walk out.

When found they had made a makeshift bivvy and were preparing to spend the night out. Needless to say they were very relieved to see help arrive.

They had a cellphone with them which they had used to alert a friend they were in distress, but this got wet, and was subsequently unusable.

This serves as another reminder that abiding by some simple rules around safe use of the outdoors can prevent mishaps from occurring, or at least make them less likely to happen.

Boating safety:

• Always take and wear life jackets.
• Skipper responsibility - keep everyone safe and know your and your vessels limits.
• Take at least 2 separate forms of communication.
• Always check the weather.
• Avoid alcohol.

Water safety:

• Be prepared - learn to swim and use the correct equipment
• Watch out - for yourself and others.
• Be aware of the dangers - obey all signage, warnings, and don't drink.
• Know your limits

In this case the couple knew their limits and stayed put once they realised they were in trouble.

However, they only had one form of communication, and when that got wet and no longer worked it made locating them much harder.