Photo: Supplied / NZ police
The search for a man missing since Cyclone Gabrielle hit the North Island has been expanded.
Gisborne man Joseph Ahuriri, 40, left home on Monday, 13 February around 4pm, heading towards Napier. He was last seen the next day, captured in a CCTV recording at the Waitomo Fuel Stop at Bay View with his white Toyota Hilux at 5.46am.
He drove north towards the Bay View village, police said on Wednesday. He had been expecting to get home earlier that morning.
“A lot of CCTV in the Hawke’s Bay area was not working at the time due to power failures,” Inspector Martin James of Hawke’s Bay Police said.
The discovery of the footage has led police to widening the search area into areas north of Bay View. So far they have looked around Whakatu, Clive, Esk Valley, along the Napier-Taupo Rd, State Highway 5 and SH2, “in addition to many of the rural roads off SH5 and SH2”.
“Police have also interviewed a number of Joseph’s friends and associates in an effort to confirm his movements since he was reported missing,” James said.
“Regular contact has been maintained with his family who have been kept up-to-date with the investigation.”
Photo: Supplied / NZ police
Ahuriri was earlier seen on CCTV heading south from Havelock North at 5.15am. The road back to Gisborne was impassable at the time.
Despite the timing, police do not believe his disappearance was related to the cyclone, which killed 11 people.
“The investigation team is interested in viewing CCTV footage from Seafield Road and Glengarry Road,” James said, “and ask that anyone in this area who has CCTV and who has not already been approached by police to please make contact with us.”
Anyone with information can contact police via 105 and use the reference number 230225/2804.
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