Search efforts widen for ‘kindest, most compassionate’ Brit missing in New Zealand for a week

A large-scale rescue operation is underway for a British hiker who went missing in New Zealand a week ago.

Around 40 search and rescue volunteers are searching for Eli Sweeting, who is originally from Bristol.

The 25-year-old was reported missing on 4 May after failing to return home from a hike up Mitre Peak, New Zealand.

The 5,560-foot mountain is close to the shore of Milford Sound, in the Fiordland National Park on the country's South Island.

The South District Police in New Zealand said the force was “maintaining a positive outlook” as search efforts continue.

The force said there was a large-scale ground and air operation to find Mr Sweeting after adverse weather prevented teams last week.

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“Land Search and Rescue teams from across the southern region are working with a Dunedin-based LandSAR search dog, members of the Wakatipu Alpine Cliff Rescue team, the Dunedin LandSAR Cliff Rescue team and the Otago Surf Life Saving Club and the Southland Amateur Radio Club,” the force said in a statement.

Mr Sweeting’s sister Serena Sweeting has set up a fundraising page to help support the search efforts.

She described her brother as “one of the kindest, most compassionate people in my life”. She added he “always enjoyed being in the mountains, and adventure is what he lives for.”

“Anyone who has met him will know what I mean,” she said in the post. “He has such a positive, vibrant, and supportive energy.”

After seeing a light on the mountain, the search team has narrowed in on a path that leads down it, but the dense terrain has made it difficult for infrared cameras to pick up any movement.

Weather warnings forced the operation to cease on Wednesday and Thursday, but it restarted on Friday.

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More than £12,000 has now been raised to help bolster the search effort with additional people and equipment.

Mr Sweeting’s family have also flown from the UK to New Zealand to help with the search.

In an update on Sunday, the South District Police said: “Police would like to thank the volunteers and organisations working alongside Police in the search for the missing tramper.”