Police search for man missing for five days

Police have stepped up their search for a 47-year-old Rotorua man who has been missing for five days.

Phillip Kingi was last seen by a relative in the early hours of last Wednesday morning when he left Rotorua to travel to Auckland.

There have not been any sightings of him since.

Yesterday the Rotorua police search and rescue squad and the Rotorua-based Tenon Rescue Helicopter searched an area of State Highway 5 on the Mamaku plateau and an area of the Tauranga Direct Rd near the Mangorewa River but failed to find any signs of Mr Kingi or his vehicle.

Detective Sergeant John Wilson, who heads the search and rescue squad, said efforts last week to contact Mr Kingi by telephone had been unsuccessful.

The lack of communication from him had concerned his family who had conducted their own roadside searches over the past few days.

Mr Kingi is described as 1.8m tall and of large build. He was driving a dark blue Toyota Vista, with registration number TR4622. Anyone with information about Mr Kingi's whereabouts or his vehicle is urged to contact the Rotorua police.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)