Foul play possible in missing man case

After days of searching for missing Palmerston North man Brett Hall in rugged countryside north of Whanganui, police say they are not ruling out foul play.

Concern is mounting for the 47-year-old, after five days without any sign of him.

Mr Hall was last seen at his lifestyle block off River Road, north of Parakino, 20km from Whanganui, on Sunday.

He was reported missing on Tuesday night.

A search and rescue operation was launched on Wednesday morning, involving five teams of police and volunteers from Whanganui and Palmerston North land search and rescue, a police dog and helicopters.

A caravan on the lifestyle block had been found unlocked along with Mr Hall's vehicle and quad bike, which led police to believe he was still in the area.

Senior Sergeant Darcy Forrester said three days of thorough searching had revealed nothing.

"The terrain is incredibly unforgiving, but there is some excellent expertise within our search teams and we would like to think we would have found some indication if he was in that immediate area."

Searches were being carried out over an area of 16 square kilometres.

Mr Hall was last in contact with family towards the end of last week.

Police could not rule out the possibility he had left the property in someone else's vehicle, or that something more sinister had occurred, Mr Forrester said.

"Certainly the lack of communication with family is out of character, but there is nothing obvious at this stage to suggest foul play.

"To assist the search we really need something more specific to go on. Anyone who has seen Mr Hall in the last week or spoken with him needs to think about anything that may have been said that might indicate his plans or where he might be now," Mr Forrester said.

Mr Hall was described as Caucasian, about 182cm tall and medium build. It was not known what he was wearing when he went missing.

- NZPA