A hunter who went missing in Fiordland National Park on Tuesday night was winched to safety by a search and rescue (SAR) team after he was found with a broken leg yesterday afternoon.
SAR co-ordinator Sergeant Ian Martin, of Invercargill, said the 25-year-old man left a friend at Big Bay hut about 40km north of Milford Sound to hunt deer alone on Tuesday night. When he failed to return, his friend went out to look for him, to no avail.
Using a satellite phone the man alerted police about his missing friend.
Sgt Martin said when the hunter was found he was stabilised by paramedics and winched up into the rescue chopper and flown to Hollyford airstrip, then flown by another helicopter to Southland Hospital with a compound leg fracture.
Soon afterwards, about 6pm, a 73-year-old woman tramper was winched from the Little Homer Track by the same crew with a broken shoulder and taken to hospital.
• Four Australian trampers were rescued from the Rees-Dart Track in the Mt Aspiring National Park near Glenorchy after activating an alarm beacon yesterday afternoon.
A Rescue co-ordination Centre spokesman said the group activated their personal beacon at 3.45pm and the Southern Lakes helicopter was sent to find them.
They were found trapped by a river and evacuated, uninjured, to Queenstown.
