It took just over an hour for Chris Painter to be rescued after he activated his emergency beacon, but it could have been much faster if the device was registered in New Zealand, the Rescue Coordination Centre says.
Painter, 61, was on a 10-day fishing trip in the South Island's Kahurangi National Park last week when he injured his knee. He spent a night in an emergency tent and activated his personal locator beacon the following morning.
The UK's Daily Mail reported that the beacon's signal was picked up by coastguards in the UK, where it was registered, but a RCCNZ spokesperson said the signal was first picked up in New Zealand.
The beacon was detected by the cospas sarsat system, an international satellite system used globally to detect emergency beacon signals, the spokesperson said.
The beacon's GPS showed Painter's location and a helicopter was sent from Nelson to find him.
RCCNZ then contacted coastguards in the UK, where the beacon was registered 10 years ago.
The UK coastguards contacted the emergency contacts listed when the beacon was registered, and eventually spoke to Painter's wife in Nelson. The information was then passed on to RCCNZ.
"While it was great that he was carrying an emergency beacon, it would have been more helpful had the beacon been registered in New Zealand, which would have assisted in speeding up the process to establish who his New Zealand emergency contacts were and details of his whereabouts," the spokesperson said.
Cospas-Sarsat