Search scaled back for hiker missing in Drakensberg

The search for a Centurion man who has been missing for days in the Drakensberg has been scaled back‚ with police and military personnel withdrawn from the mountains.

Mark Grobler left the Cathedral Peak Hotel on Boxing Day on a four-day trek which would have taken him into the mountains.

The 25-year-old man was due to return on December 29‚ and when he failed to check in a search was launched.

During the search effort a police helicopter crashed near Cathedral Peak on New Year's Day. Officers and a search dog sustained minor injuries.

A source with knowledge of the search operation said that officers and members of the search party had scaled back their effort.

“Members of the Ladysmith K9 unit are still being deployed to search but other members have pulled out‚” he said.

The rescuers had searched all the routes which would have been accessible to Grobler without success.

“We searched a large area where he would have been able to traverse. We did not find any trace of him and none of his possessions‚” the source added.