Drunken teen's ramblings spark fruitless search

File photo / NZ Herald

Queenstown police have spent a frustrating day searching dense bush for someone who appears to have been a figment of a drunken teen's imagination.

Acting Sergeant Blair Duffy told APNZ the 19-year-old local stumbled onto the Queenstown-Glenorchy road and into the path of a police car at about 8am.

Both the teen and the police had been at an all-night party at Sunshine Cove, a small beach about 1.5km from Queenstown, which attracted up to 200 partygoers.

The police were returning from at least their second visit to the party, while the teen was trying to find his way home.

"Whilst making his way up towards the road, he's taken a fall of some description and injured himself," Mr Duffy said.

"Police, having just attended the party at about 8am were returning to Queenstown when this chappie spilled out onto the road and flagged them down."

The teen was scratched and bruised, and police took him to Lakes District Hospital before he was flown to Southland Hospital with abdominal pain.

But it was what he told police that had them, the coastguard and land search and rescue teams, combing the area for most of the day: he had heard someone in distress in the bush.

He couldn't say whether it was a man or woman, what was said or where the voice had come from.

"As a result it's been a little bit of a wild goose chase but essentially we've just had to cover our bases ... just to cover off that there is not, in fact, anybody in that area," Mr Duffy said.

"No one was found. If there was somebody down there and they were responsive, it's highly likely we would have found them.

"If (they were) unconscious, it's very difficult."

The area was only five minutes from Queenstown but the terrain was challenging; bluffs and cliffs covered in dense bush.

"He was so intoxicated that really it's hard to know," Mr Duffy said.

"It's difficult to rule it out but it's probably unlikely that there's anybody else down there but in saying that, there have been 100 or more youths at a party down there so we just can't discount it, hence we've had the response that we've initiated."

Mr Duffy urged those who had attended the party to make sure their mates were accounted for and to contact police if anyone was missing.

"... if there is somebody outstanding and they're connected to that party, that would be of interest to us and we'd certainly look to reactivate the search," he said.

It was frustrating for police that a whole day had been spent searching for someone who may or may not be there - "we're just going on a drunken youth's ramblings at this point" - but they could not rule anything out.

"You've just got to do what you can, just to make sure you go home confident you've done what you can," he said.

"Worst case scenario, there is someone there, which has happened in the past."

Queenstown police often had to mop up after drunks, plucking them out of gullies, the bush or creek beds, and the novelty had long since worn off.

"It's all time and money. But it doesn't matter what you say, it just keeps happening.

"(It's a) party town but some people just push it a wee bit too far."