Missing tourist found in a bar

Concerned police issued this photo of Michael Craig before he was found at a pub.

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Police spent much of the weekend searching for an Australian tourist who had been reported missing, before he turned up safe and well last night.

Michael Craig, 45, was found in a Christchurch bar, unaware of the search. He had been missing since Saturday morning.

Craig, 45, known as Mick, was last seen on camera footage stumbling out of the Embankment Hotel on Ferry Rd, Phillipstown, about 4am on Saturday.

By yesterday afternoon, police said they had concerns for him and were looking in areas around Lyttelton, where he had been earlier, including in the water, for signs of him

Police also released his photograph to the media and were investigating whether his bank accounts had been touched and were trying to contact his family in Australia.

Craig, from Tasmania, was in New Zealand on a sightseeing and fishing trip with his friend, John Palmer, also from Tasmania.

The pair were drinking at their Lyttelton hotel on Friday night. When the pub closed, Craig went looking for another bar, apparently taking a taxi into Christchurch about 2am.

Palmer said he had seen the camera footage from the Embankment Hotel and Craig had left about 4am.

"He was stumbling, he had had a skinful."

Craig had no cellphone, Palmer said.

The pair had been in New Zealand for a week, travelling up the island from Invercargill in a borrowed car and had been supposed to be fishing near Twizel before heading back to Tasmania on Wednesday.

Last night Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Harvey said: "He's been found in an inner city bar, unaware he was reported missing."

- © Fairfax NZ News