A 29-year-old Scottish backpacker has been rescued from Tongariro National Park this afternoon after spending the last 24 hours lost on the slopes of Mt Ngauruhoe.
Police were alerted at 7.30pm yesterday when he did not meet his track transport at 5pm.
LandSAR volunteers, police and DOC staff from Turangi, Taupo and Whakapapa, supported by the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, searched for him overnight after he made a phone call at 1pm yesterday saying he was lost in cloud on "Mt Doom", then at 4.30pm to say he would not make it in time for his bus.
There was no sign of him during the night so the search effort resumed mid-morning today.
He was found when he walked into the Waihohonu hut about 3pm today, just as five LandSAR Teams were closing in on him, having tracked his footprints down the slopes of Ngauruhoe, into the headwaters of the Waihohonu Stream.
