Remains could be of tramper

A year long search-and-rescue mystery concerning the whereabouts of missing English tramper Dr Derek Hawkins may be close to being solved.

A tramping party in the south valley branch of the Siberia River discovered what appeared to be human remains last Thursday, police have reported.

On Saturday, police and members of the Wanaka Search and Rescue team recovered various items from an unnamed creek in the South Siberia Valley, Acting Sergeant Emma Fleming said.

The remains have been sent to Dunedin for forensic examination to determine the identity and investigations have been referred to the Coroner, Const Fleming said.

English metallurgist Dr Hawkins (72), of Sheffield, has been missing since March 2007, when he was last seen leaving the Siberia Hut.

Dr Hawkins listed his intentions in the hut diary as taking a day tramp to the Crucible Lake, accessed by a track up the Crucible Stream.

Despite an extensive five-day search and a subsequent SAR exercise to try and locate him, Dr Hawkins could not be found. Const Fleming said Dr Hawkins' next of kin in the United Kingdom had been advised of the discovery and would be kept up to date with developments.

Wanaka land-based SAR adviser Alan Gillespie was one of the team which recovered the remains from the true-right fork of the Siberia Stream on Saturday.

He said the remains were discovered ‘‘roughly'' about 3km, or 30 to 40 minutes' walking time, past the Crucible Stream and valley turn-off, to where Dr Hawkins' hut diary entry indicated he was travelling. They were in an area searchers had determined as ‘‘low possibility'' last year.

It appeared Dr Hawkins had misinterpreted the directions and missed iridescent orange track markers, which indicate the valley turn-off to the Crucible.

He had carried on up the Siberia River flats along an ill defined track, which was something ‘‘a number of trampers have done before'', Mr Gillespie said.

The remains were in the high floodwater level of the stream in ‘‘difficult terrain, hilly, and among thick bush and fern''.

There was no identifiable track through the area and the creek would carry ‘‘significant amounts of water in times of high rainfall'', Mr Gillespie said.

It was possible the tramping party could have been the first people on foot to enter the isolated valley since the searchers last April.

Mr Gillespie said he would always wonder why Dr Hawkins missed the track to Crucible, but, should the remains be identified as the missing English tramper, he was happy the find would bring some closure to the Hawkins family.

Those who had volunteered their ‘‘considerable time'' and expertise during the original search operation would also be pleased to know where Dr Hawkins had ended up and lessons could be learnt for future searches, Mr Gillespie said.

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