The parents of a missing British hiker are flying to New Zealand to join the search for their daughter.
Stephanie Simpson, 32, messaged her family on Thursday about plans to go “tramping” at Mount Aspiring National Park on the South Island.
The alarm was raised when she failed to turn up to her landscaping job on Monday, sparking a search of the region where flooding claimed the lives of two other hikers at the weekend, one of who was today named as Kevin Kum Fike Lee, 22.
New Zealand police have reportedly told the family there had been two sightings of her on the trail.
A helicopter scoured a 15-mile area overnight but “nothing of note was found”.
A spokeswoman said: “Search teams tomorrow will concentrate on bush areas.”
She is believed to have been walking alone.
A relative, who asked not to be named, told the Standard: “Where she is there is not any phone signal. We have no idea what has happened.”
