By Tony Wall and NZPA
Taiwanese police believe they have found the remains of young Aucklander Reuben Tchernegovski but his family doubt the body is that of their missing son.
The family say the skeleton is too small to be the 22-year-old medical student.
But police in Taipei say the finding of
the skeleton and a backpack with a New
Zealand flag on it point to its being the young Auckland man, who went missing soon after starting a tour of southern Taiwan in November.
They believe he slipped and fell down a cliff in Fengshan, part of the rugged Mt Ali area.
But his father, Phil, who was taken to the remote mountainside to view the remains, is waiting for DNA tests to confirm the identity.
Reuben's mother, Heather, said last night that she understood the skeleton was too short to be her son. He did not smoke but cigarettes were found in the backpack.
Phil Tchernegovski has been trying for four months to find out what happened to his son.
Reuben, a father of one, had not contacted his parents or wife since leaving New Zealand on November 15.
He had been due back to celebrate his birthday on December 4 and his daughter's second birthday on December 24.
Phil Tchernegovski spent seven weeks searching for his son this year, and went back to Taiwan last week with the help of Auckland's Taiwanese community, who donated $10,000 and a return airfare.
A Taipei representative in New Zealand, Richard Shih, used his Taiwan contacts to get indigenous hill people to help in the renewed search.
Taiwan Television yesterday quoted police in Mt Ali as saying Reuben might have become lost because a trail shown on his old map had been buried in a cave-in when a typhoon hit the area in 1996.
