RUMNEY — State officials say they have yet to determine the total cost of a summer search for a North Carolina man reported missing in Rumney or whether the state will seek to recover those costs from him and his family.

The five-day search for Hugh Armstrong, 72, in the White Mountain National Forest area in and around Rumney involved hundreds of volunteers, the largest search-and-rescue effort conducted by New Hampshire officials thus far in 2012. Armstrong was missing for two weeks before he was found and identified by McDowell County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Crowder in Marion, N.C., nearly 1,000 miles away from where he was first reported missing by family members during a vacation trip to Stinson Lake.

“The circumstances surrounding how Mr. Armstrong left New Hampshire and was found in North Carolina continue to be looked into by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and the New Hampshire State Police,” said state police Lt. Todd Landry of Troop F. “No further information is being released at this time.”

Fish and Game Col. Martin Garabedian said the final cost of the rescue was still being tallied, according to a spokesman.

“The assessment regarding the cost of the search for Mr. Armstrong is ongoing,” said Fish and Game Public Affairs Officer Jane Vachon. “When those numbers have been determined and a report finalized, it will be sent along to the Attorney General’s Office for review.”

The Attorney General’s Office determines the process by which costs associated with a search and rescue are recovered, if the parties involved are deemed negligent. The process involves a report being filed by the Fish and Game official involved and a request for the costs to be recovered.

Attempts to reach Armstrong or members of his family were unsuccessful.

After he was found and identified in North Carolina, Armstrong told the Union Leader he spoke with Fish and Game Lt. Jim Kneeland, who headed up the search effort. He said he told Kneeland he believed he fell into a ravine and injured himself near the intersection of Ellsworth Hill Road and Doetown Road, suffering an injury to the right side of his head. He said the fall triggered a state of amnesia.

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Paul Feely may be reached at pfeely@unionleader.com.