One of two backpackers missing nearly a week in Denali National Park and Preserve called her mother and said they were safe Wednesday, but helicopters sent out after authorities tracked the signal did not immediately find them.

The park dispatched two helicopters to pick up Erica Nelson and Abby Flantz, but three hours later they had not been located.

An additional helicopter and an airplane searched the area and 10 ground searchers and two dog teams were being dropped off. The National Park Service said more ground searchers would move to the area Wednesday afternoon if needed.

Nelson, 23, called her mother Wednesday morning while Ellane Nelson was listening to park officials give a briefing on the search. She saw her daughter’s caller ID on her cell phone and looked as if she had seen a ghost, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

Ellane Nelson heard Erica say that she and Flantz, her 25-year-old roommate, were alive and well. Park officials told the women to stay put, make themselves visible and signal any helicopters that flew overhead

The cell phone’s battery was weak but park officials were able to locate the signal coming from the eastern section of the 100-square-mile area of the park they had been searching for more than four days, Anchorage television station KTUU reported.

The new search area is north of Mount Healy about 5 miles west of the Parks Highway, the main highway that connects Anchorage and Fairbanks. The search area about 180 miles north of Anchorage and is a mix of national park and state-owned lands.

There was no other cell phone contact after the initial call, Fister said. The reason for their disappearance was not immediately clear.

Erica Nelson, of Las Vegas, and Flantz, of Gaylord, Minn., were last seen in the park June 12 and had intended to return the next day. The search began Saturday after the women did not show up for work at a hotel outside the park.

Searchers have scoured an area that includes dense alder and willow, some black spruce forest and open tundra. They found no indication that the women had left the park but were puzzled that no clothing or gear had been found, or that the women had not somehow signaled the three helicopters or park airplane that flew overhead.

Officials said it was unlikely the women merely decided to extend their camping trip. Nelson was scheduled to fly Sunday night to Houston so she could be maid of honor in her sister’s wedding.

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On the Net:

Denali National Park and Preserve: http://www.nps.gov/dena/