Police searching for answers after tourist vanishes in two-hour window

Northern Territory Police are urgently seeking assistance in locating a 61-year-old tourist, Dominic O'Connell, who vanished from Edith Falls outside Katherine on Sunday. According to an NT Police spokesperson, O'Connell was last seen between 1pm and 3pm near the lower plunge pool in Nitmiluk National Park, approximately 300 kilometers south of Darwin.

The tourist, who was accompanied by his wife, is described as Caucasian, approximately six feet tall, with a slim build, shoulder-length brown and white hair, a short beard, and distinctive tattoos on both shoulders. At the time of his disappearance, O'Connell was wearing prescription dark blue glasses, white shorts with a black-and-blue pattern, and no shirt.

Police divers and Parks and Wildlife NT rangers have carried out a thorough search of the area using various resources, but have thus far been unable to locate O'Connell. The lower plunge pool at Edith Falls remains closed to the public and is currently only accessible to individuals participating in the search. Witnesses recall several people present in and around the Edith Falls plunge pool at the time O'Connell was last seen, and police are particularly interested in speaking with anyone who was in the vicinity between 1pm and 3pm on Sunday.

Police have dispatched search and rescue crews to the area multiple times in the past, with a notable case from July last year when a 57-year-old tourist disappeared; his body was found in the lower pool of Edith Falls. Another search in 2018 failed to locate 67-year-old Queensland man Alex Rosenberg, who also vanished from the area.