Two injured visitors to New Zealand were rescued in seperate incidents after setting over emergency beacons that were picked up on the other side of the world.
A German tramper set off his beacon when he injured his ankle during a hike on the East Coast of the North Island this morning.
The signal was picked up by a coordination centre in the United States at about 11am this morning.
The American officials talked to the local Rescue Coordination Centre, and a helicopter was sent to pick up the 32-year-old.
He was taken to hospital in Whakatane at about 2pm.
Meanwhile, a 64-year-old British solo climber was winched from Mt Cook National Park last night after alerting the British coastguard using his locator beacon.
Chris Wilson from the Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the man was attempting to climb the Hooker Glacier when he fell, injuring his leg.
"He'd slid on some snow and ended up on rocks, and injured his leg, so he wasn't able to continue. He set off his beacon, which is a British one, but because it was a global system, we were able to find out from our counterparts in Britain who he was and had a fairly good idea of what his intentions were."
