NZ Police: Missing Person In Queenstown
Queenstown Police are appealing for help from the public in their search for a Hungarian man who went missing on Friday November 13th after failing to return a hired Kayak used in the Queenstown Bay area of Lake Wakatipu.
41yr old
Gellert Csaba MUDRA, who has been living in New Zealand for
the past 2 1/2 years, was last seen paddling on the Bay at
about 4:45pm on Friday afternoon, having hired a Kayak for
an hour.
Mr MUDRA, who was wearing a beige coloured
long sleeve woollen pullover, blue jeans, beige coloured
trainers and a light blue polo shirt, is an experienced
Kayaker and was wearing a light blue life vest when he left
the beach.
At about 6:00pm the yellow and orange
Minnow brand Kayak was found floating in the middle of the
Bay with the paddle tucked inside the cockpit and the Life
Jacket stowed behind the seat.
The strong winds
present in the area at the time indicated that the craft may
have drifted from the direction of the Lake Esplanade beach
area.
The interior of the Kayak was dry as was the
Life Jacket.
Police and Coastguard made shoreline
searches of the Queenstown Bay and Frankton Arm areas of
the Lake on Friday evening and again on Saturday without
locating any sign of the missing man but have not excluded
the possibility that Mr MUDRA may have walked off after
beaching the Kayak in the Lake Esplanade
area.
Sergeant Brian Cameron of the Queenstown Police
says that Police have grave concerns for Mr MUDRA given the
light clothing worn and the relatively chilly conditions of
the past few nights.
Mr MUDRA has lived in Queenstown
together with his wife for the past 18 months and has
recently been depressed about his inability to find
work.
Mr MUDRA is described as being about 185cm tall
with a middle aged spread weighing approximately 95kgs and
has short grey hair. He is clean shaven and wears wire
rimmed glasses. Mr MUDRA speaks English well but with a
strong European accent.
Police will reassess their
search options again on Monday morning.
Police are
asking that anyone who was boating in the Queenstown Bay
area at the time the Kayak was found or anyone who may have
seen Mr Mudra since to contact them on 03
4411600.
Please view the full news release online
at:
http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/21587.html
ENDS