Missing 3-year-old found alive on ski mountain

A three-year-old girl who disappeared last evening at a ski resort in the central North Island has been found alive.

The toddler went missing from a carpark near the Whakapapanui River at the foot of Mt Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park around 6pm.

A helicopter search team spotted the girl around 7am today in thick bush near the Whakapapa Holiday Park on the northern side of the mountain.

The child had been staying with her parents and their other two young children in a campervan at the holiday park. The family has been visiting New Zealand from France.

The girl's condition is not known. She had walked about a kilometre from where she was last seen, crossing two bridges, and was found lying down.

"She was pretty cold and has been evacuated out for medical treatment," said Inspector Craig Tweedie of the Police Central Communications Centre.

Temperatures in the area fell to below 5C overnight with drizzle. The girl was wearing a bright yellow raincoat over a fleece.