Midnight walker lost on cliffs

Search and rescue workers had to bring in reinforcements on Great Barrier Island last night after failing to find a young holidaymaker believed to have fallen from a cliff into swollen sea.

The 19-year-old man disappeared in the dark early yesterday while clambering with a male companion of about the same age over clifftops on a rugged island near Claris,one of Great Barrier's main settlements.

Police are not naming the man, but confirmed that he was a visitor and said they were taking his distraught mother and his partner to Great Barrier late yesterday with search reinforcements on their launch, the Deodar.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter made an initial swoop over the area yesterday morning before returning to Auckland to collect a five-strong police search and rescue team equipped with ropes and other climbing equipment. They leaped out of the helicopter as it hovered above the summit of Pitokuku Island, better known to locals as Rabbit Island, which is connected to Great Barrier at low tide and rises more than 50m between Kaitoke and Medlands beaches.

Inspector Darroch Todd of the police northern communications centre said the missing man and his companion, who the Herald understands were staying at a backpackers' hostel about 5km away, went for a walk between midnight and 2am yesterday.

It was a moonless night.

His friend turned up at a house on the coast next to Pitokuku Island at about 6am to raise thealarm.

A local farmer said Pitokuku Island, which is covered with pohutukawa trees and coastal flax, was a treacherous enough place to venture even in daylight and recent rainfall would have made it extra"greasy".

HOLIDAY WATCH

The Herald will be covering the work of rescue helicopters across our circulation region over the holiday period.

To make a donation, call the following numbers:

* Westpac Rescue Helicopter, aka Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, ph (09) 303-1508
* Trustpower TECT rescue helicopter, Rotorua, ph 0800 11 10 10
* Lion Foundation rescue helicopter, Taupo ph (07) 378-8074
* Tenon Rescue Helicopter, Rotorua ph (07) 348-8556
* Northland Rescue Helicopter, Whangarei ph (025) 233-0419
* Eastland Rescue Helicopter Trust, Gisborne ph (06) 868-3283