Three men have been rescued from the Wakaia River, near Piano Flat, after being reported missing while rafting on Saturday.
A police spokesman said emergency services were alerted about 9.30am on Saturday, when the trio did not arrive at the planned pick-up point on the river.
After making initial inquiries overnight, a police search and rescue crew began looking for them at dawn yesterday.
A helicopter from Southern Lakes Helicopters, in Te Anau, assisted in the search and located two inflatable watercrafts in a gorge section of the river, about 6.5km north of Piano Flat.
Soon after, about 11.30am, one of the men was sighted by the helicopter crew near the river’s edge with a leg injury, and the other two were located nearby a short time later, cold but otherwise uninjured.
They were winched from the river, medically assessed, and the man with the leg injury was transported to Southland Hospital. — APL
