It was out on our National T.V ..

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11126477

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Song, who that next to you on the picture??

Jessi, this couple were lost while they were going around south Island NZ,it' so sad

How can someone be get lost in NZ?... You had stormy weather or what?...

I am reading the news on line ...

"Slip may have pushed missing tourists' van off road"


It is likely a landslide in the Haast Pass hurled the campervan that missing Canadian tourists Connor Hayes and Joanna Lam were travelling in last Tuesday into the raging and flooded Haast River.

At a media conference this afternoon West Coast police area commander Inspector John Canning said police believe the couple's vehicle was hit by a landslide.

The couple were travelling from Haast towards Wanaka. The accident happened sometime after 6.30pm, he said.

"We know roughly when it happened as we have spoken to a witness from Haast who was following a campervan through the Haast Pass last Tuesday and turned back because the weather was so bad.

"Unfortunately there is no sign of the couple, but we will continue searching _ things are not looking good for their survival,'' he said.

Insp Canning said he would be talking to the Coroner because there had been no signs of the couple which "indicated they may have come to harm''.

He also said that searchers scouring the river in a jetboat today told him that the water was 6m higher last week during the terrible weather than what it was today.

Ms Lam's brother Jeffrey listened into the the media conference from Canada via telephone afterwards thanked all the searchers for their efforts.

"Also on behalf of our family and friends I hope and pray you find something which would be able to give our families closure,'' Mr Lam said.



Hopes are fading for the missing tourists after more wreckage of their smashed up campervan from the Haast Pass was found 50km away, washed up on the beach.

The van crashed over an 80m bluff near the Gates of Haast bridge on Tuesday; the same night a vicious storm brought down a huge slip nearby, closing the highway.

The fuel tank was found last night north of the Haast River, near the Waita River.

A search was launched yesterday morning when Connor Hayes, 25 and Joanna Lam, 24, were reported missing after Ms Lam failed to turn up to her first day of work at the radiology department at Nelson Hospital.

The couple were last seen at Fox Glacier last Tuesday afternoon; the day the weather bomb exploded over the region; lashing the Haast Pass alpine area with torrential rain and gale force winds.

Haast police Constable Rob Manera discovered the chassis and wheels of the campervan in the narrow gorge, just metres from the landslide at Diana Falls.

Earlier, Insp Canning said contractors working on clearing the slip yesterday morning suggested that Mr Manera look in a particular area near the slip.

He said it was possible the campervan had been blown off the road in gusting winds, but doubted the missing couple were buried under the slip.

Insp Canning said the "guts" of the campervan had been torn apart in the crash.

"All we initially found was the chassis and wheels; the rest of the rental vehicle, including the engine and gearbox, are gone."

Police had so far been unable to confirm whether the couple were in the vehicle when it left the road, but search and rescue crews were scouring the area from the crash site to the river mouth on foot, by boat and from the air.

"It is going to be a big job; at the time the couple crashed, the Haast River was running very high."

Mr Manera said he did not believe the pair had ignored any weather warning signs not to travel in the area, or road closed signs.

The New Zealand Transport Agency confirmed today that the pass was closed at 8pm on Tuesday, and Mr Manera said the couple would have driven into the area prior to the road closed signs going up because of the treacherous and windy conditions. The slip occurred later.

"They would have been there lawfully and not breached any road blocks or warnings."

Mr Hayes' older brother Liam spoke to the New Zealand Herald last night saying that the family was holding out hope the couple were alive.

He said their spirits were "not the greatest, but still optimistic" and they had no immediate plans to come to New Zealand.

"Connor brought Joanna to New Zealand to get her settled for her new job. (They have) both done a lot of travelling before," Mr Hayes said.

He had been receiving regular updates from his brother, who was due to start training for Canada's police force on his return, but that stopped last week.

"They were having a great time. He had been sending email updates to my family; the last one on September 8. He was going on a glacier tour on the 10th and that's his last-known whereabouts."

The couple had been dating for almost two years.

A Twitter feed, #findjoandconnor has been set up for messages of support and hope and to encourage searchers to keep going.

- by Viv Logie of the Greymouth Star and APNZ

APNZ

Ference, below are two website, you can go in and read more about the sad news....:(

http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/273675/pair-missing-near-big-slip

and

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11126477
APNZ

I see, Lin, thanks for it!
I think any other reason would have had less possibility in NZ.

Yes. Ferenc and you are right.

More news...:(

Outlook for Canadian pair appears bleak..



http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9182558/Outlook-for-Canadian-pair-appears-bleak/

or
detail from 'NZ stuff"

"We just want some sort of closure to bring them home," the brother of a Canadian woman says, as police say hopes of finding her and her boyfriend alive after their campervan crashed are dwindling.

Connor Hayes and Joanna Lam are presumed dead after their rental vehicle was swept over a cliff by a landslide into the raging Haast river.

With searchers resuming their hunt for the couple today, chances of finding them alive are "not looking good", police say.

Crews will focus downstream from the crash site and along the West Coast near the river mouth, while a helicopter with specialist heat-seeking equipment and a search dog from Christchurch has been added to the team.

Jeffrey Lam this morning continued to hope his sister would be found - alive or dead - so the family could have closure.

"I miss her smile. I want her to come home for her birthday [next week] so that everybody can smile with her."

Lam said his parents were really struggling to come to grips with what had happened to their daughter and "are really in pain".

"They are not doing well ... especially being so far away and not being able to control anything."

He thanked search and rescue crews who continued to look for the couple this morning.

"From the bottom of my heart I want to express some gratitude. [Please] continue these efforts. We just want some sort of closure to bring them home.

Police have been piecing together the pair's last hours.

While bleak weather forced some motorists to turn back in a storm, it appears Hayes, 25, and Lam, 24, continued driving east through Haast Pass in dark and stormy conditions last Tuesday.

They were last seen at Fox Glacier earlier that day, but the alarm was only raised this week when Lam failed to turn up for work.

Their families had clung to hope the couple would be found alive despite haunting images emerging yesterday of their wrecked vehicle wrapped around a boulder.

However, police delivered the news late yesterday that will have broken their hearts.

They believe the couple made it through the Diana Falls area of State Highway 6, where there was a major slip later in the night, but "in all likelihood" were hit by another landslide further east.

"The chances of finding someone alive down there are pretty remote now," Inspector John Canning said.

"Things are not looking good for the survival of the pair."

Police would be talking to the coroner.

Lam's family last night declined to comment after hearing the news, but earlier Jeffrey said he was "praying and hoping" the couple had survived.

"They loved each other and they did everything together," he said.

Michael Hayes was en route to New Zealand to help look for his son, while family waited anxiously for news back home.

The couple arrived in the country on September 2 and had travelled around the North Island before heading south.

Lam was due to start a six-month placement at Nelson Hospital on Monday. She would have been working as a medical imaging specialist in the radiology department.

Connor Hayes planned to return to Canada after making sure she was safe and settled in the role. He was training to be a police officer.
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The couple had been together about two years and were living together in Ottawa, Ontario, before the trip.

The family last heard from Lam on September 8. The couple was enjoying the country's beautiful scenery, she wrote in an email.

They were experienced travellers and had hiking gear, sleeping bags and other equipment to survive harsh conditions, he said.

Jeffrey described his sister as a free spirit with a bubbly personality.

"The most captivating thing about my sister has to be her smile. She treated the world as her oyster."

Christina Hayes said family were waiting anxiously for word of her nephew's fate.

They were "incredibly worried" but were "praying for a safe return", she said.

The couple's vehicle, a Volkswagen hired in Nelson, was found "totally demolished by the water" in the riverbed on Tuesday - the chassis wrapped around a rock near the Gates of Haast bridge.

Debris was discovered downstream and a petrol tank was also found washed ashore about 7 kilometres up the coast from the river mouth.

Police believed the couple's plan was to travel south to Otago and back up the East Coast to Nelson.

They had pieced together their movements by speaking to Haast residents who were travelling behind what was thought to be the couple's van along the Haast Pass highway about 6.30pm to 6.45pm last Tuesday.

The locals turned back due to the weather after following the van for a short time.

Later that night, a series of slips came down along the Haast Pass highway.

The waters in the gorge were running "very high", Canning said, about 6 metres higher than yesterday.

New Zealand Transport Agency said the pass was closed at 8pm on Tuesday, so the couple would not have breached road closures.

- © Fairfax NZ News