A rescue helicopter has been scrambled to search for two hunters lost in the snow in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.
A helicopter had been sent to Liebig Hut in the Murchison Valley to try to communicate with the hunters, said police mid-south Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin.
"Weather conditions aren't flash with low cloud. If we can get to the hut then we might be able to find out where they are, then we can take some steps.
"But we are very much in a fact-finding phase at the moment.''
Mr Gaskin said police received a call from the missing party via satellite phone earlier today, however it was "extremely distorted and muffled''.
The hunters' conditions were unknown.
