Police have slammed the actions of a group of men, including two teenagers, who went hunting in Central Otago on Friday night in bitterly cold conditions without telling anyone where they were going.
The group of four, aged 37, 22, 15 and 14, got stuck and spent a cold, snowy night in their 4WD in an area of conservation land on the Rock and Pillar range.
They could not raise the alarm as they had no communications, said Senior Constable Steve Burke of Ranfurly police.
Searchers did not know where to begin looking when the group failed to return on Saturday morning as the group had also neglected to tell anyone where they were going.
Several farmers had to go out and check tracks for signs the 4WD had gone through.
By Saturday afternoon a rescue helicopter was looking for them.
Eventually a friend of the group figured out where they might have gone and the helicopter found them within 30 minutes.
The helicopter flew the group out unharmed. The four had enough clothing, but carried no food or water.
Mr Burke was highly critical of the four, who had failed to take some basic safety precautions.
"This mistake put their own welfare in serious jeopardy, as well as the safety of search members who entered the same environment in the same conditions to look for them," Mr Burke said.
The group's 4WD remains abandoned where it bogged, and will be recovered some time later at the owner's expense.
NZN