Five climbers have been safely rescued off Mount Taranaki following a significant search and rescue operation yesterday.
At around 2:15pm, emergency services received reports of a group of climbers in trouble on the mountain, with one person under CPR.
Acting Sergeant David Bentley, Search and Rescue Incident Controller says the Search and Rescue operation was stood up, with assistance from RCCNZ, LandSAR, Alpine Cliff Rescue and Civil Defence, and a number of helicopter companies.
"Due to the weather conditions, the helicopters called in to assist with rescue efforts were unable to reach the summit of the mountain.
"Rescue teams on the ground also began to climb up the mountain towards the group."
The first climber, who was in a critical condition when rescue teams arrived, was extracted from the mountain at around 6:20pm.
Helicopters were able to extract the remaining four people by 6:50pm, and the group of five were all transported to hospital.
One person was in a critical condition, two people are in a serious condition and two people are in a moderate condition.
Acting Sergeant Bentley says the group are lucky to be alive.
"The weather improved for a period long enough for us to get helicopters into the area and rescue the climbers.
"We were in and out very quickly and had it not been for that break in the weather, there was a very good chance we would have been dealing with fatalities.
"We'd also like to thank all the community partner agencies that assisted with this rescue, which if it was not for their swift response, the result could have been tragic."
More safety information can be found on the Mountain Safety Council website here.
