Fears grow for missing volunteer

Raoul Island. Photo / NZPA

A combined foot and air search will today comb the northern and eastern coasts of Raoul Island for a missing conservation volunteer feared swept to sea off Raoul Island in the remote Kermadec chain.

A Deparment of Conservation (DoC) worker went missing from the island's rocky shoreline at about 6am yesterday, and ground and air searches stretching into the night failed to find the man.

The man had been rostered to take water temperature readings for a weather station DOC operates for the MetService.

Some of his measuring equipment was found at the bottom of a walking track down from a cliff where he had parked his four-wheel-drive vehicle, but there was no other sign of him.

The Rescue Co-ordination Centre was preparing a search helicopter at Auckland's Ardmore air base, which was due to begin the five-hour flight out to the islands at 10am, said DoC spokesman Tim Brandenburg.

He told Radio New Zealand the helicopter would search the coastal and sea area, while a team would search the eastern and northern rocky coastline on the island, which were the likely places to recover the lost man based on the scenario they think.

"He was down at Fishing Rock taking sea temperature readings. The vehicle that he used to go down there was at Fishing Rock, the temperature thermometer was in the water, and so we think that he had begun the task and that appears to be the mostly likely scenario - that he was swept or fell into the water somehow.''

The area where the worker went missing is surrounded by cliffs and at the mercy of open sea conditions.

"Raoul is a small island in the middle of a very big sea, so the sea conditions are often quite rough and there often isn't any natural harbour or shelter really.''

DoC spokeswoman Liz Maire said the worker had been on Raoul Island, about 1000km northeast of Auckland and renowned for volcanic eruptions and almost daily earthquakes, since October on a six-month stint of duty.

He was one of four volunteers helping three department staff, who monitor seismic and volcanic activity as well as conduct conservation work such as eradicating weeds to protect the more than 100 plants which are native to the Kermadecs.

They are the only people on the island, which is a tightly controlled nature reserve.

A department worker, 33-year-old Mark Kearney, disappeared during a volcanic explosion in 2006. He is believed to have died when a crater lake erupted as he was checking its water temperature. His five colleagues were rescued by helicopter.

Asked how the other conservation workers were feeling, Ms Maire said: "They are definitely concerned because they are a tight team and look after each other.''

She refused to provide any more details about the missing man, saying that would be up to the police if they became involved. She said anybody accepted for duty on the island needed to be extremely fit and able to cope with life in such a remote place.

A rescue co-ordination centre spokeswoman said there appeared to be no ships in the area, because none had responded to a mayday call to help with the search.

The missing man's family had been notified, as well as the relatives of other workers on the island.

- APNZ and NZ Herald