Two Dunedin children have been found "safe and well" after they went missing yesterday afternoon in Southland bush.
Southland Police Area Commander Inspector Mike Bowman said searchers found the boy, 8, and girl, 11, 1.5km from the campground at the northern end of Mavora Lakes Rd.
They were in a clearing near the lake.
Police earlier said the children hadn't returned after going for a bushwalk from the campground at 2.30pm yesterday. Officers were called about the missing children about 5.15pm.
Searchers had been out overnight and more were deployed at first light.
Queenstown Police's Terry Wood told 1News the pair had been "disorientated" and had "tried to find their way out but haven't been able to".
"They could hear search teams when they were in the trees overnight. They spent the night in the forest and they huddled down under a tree."
Wood said the children had a cell phone in their possession but no reception to call for help.
The children were found after walking to a clearing after being woken by the sound of helicopters.
"Around that point, a search team has made their way in, doing a sound line, and they came within earshot of each other and come together and search teams located the two children safe and well - cold, but safe and well," he said.
"They were in really good spirits and didn't appear to be suffering too much from their ordeal. They were doing really well."
The 8-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl huddled under a tree overnight, police say. (Source: 1News)
He said the families were "very delighted and relieved this morning when they were found".
Bowman said the children have been taken back to the Search and Rescue base and are being looked at by medical staff.
"Police wish to thank everyone who was involved in the search overnight and this morning, including volunteers who travelled from around the Southern region to join the search."
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