Body believed to be missing hiker recovered from NSW bushland, police say
The body believed to be that of 18-year-old Lily Hooper was located about 11:30am on Thursday, but rough terrain had made the retrieval process difficult.
A body believed to be that of missing hiker Lily Hooper has been recovered from dense bushland in Nattai National Park, Southern Highlands, New South Wales (NSW), police announced. The retrieval process was challenging due to the park's rough terrain. The woman, 18, vanished on August 12 while hiking in the park, 90 kilometers southwest of Sydney.
Her family alerted authorities after she failed to return home that evening. A multi-agency search involving nearly 1,000 volunteers, including 100 Australian Defence Force personnel, 280 NSW SES volunteers, and specialist police crews, was launched. The body was discovered on Thursday afternoon, around 11:30 AM. Despite the difficulty, no personal belongings were found with the body until Thursday.
Ms Hooper's car was found at the start of a challenging 16 km trail for experienced hikers. The Premier of NSW, Chris Minns, initially reported that Ms Hooper was alive, which was widely reported by Australian media, including the ABC. Later, Police Commissioner MalLanyon apologized for the miscommunication and the additional trauma caused to the family.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
