Authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales are investigating how police wrongly told the family of 18-year-old hiker Lily Hooper that she had been found alive. Her body was in fact recovered in Nattai National Park after an eight-day search.
Hooper had been missing since starting a walk in Nattai National Park, about 90 kilometers south of Sydney in the Southern Highlands. She was found dead on Thursday, DR reports, but police first passed on information that she was alive.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told the state parliament on Thursday that Hooper had been found alive, carrying half a bottle of water. Per DR, he asked whether the note handed to him was correct before announcing it, then returned to the chamber to say her body had been found.
At the command post by the national park, Hooper’s family received the same message from police. Television channel Channel Seven broadcast images of the family embracing, and her father, Jim Hooper, said she would likely be taken straight to hospital. He had brought her guitar and a packet of her favorite chocolate biscuits.
ABC News reports that Assistant Police Commissioner Joseph Cassar described the error as born out of elation among the search team. Cassar said there was a delay between the initial report that Hooper had been found and the accurate message that she was dead, sent over handheld radios.
According to The Guardian, a search volunteer first advised at about 11:30 a.m. that Hooper had been found alive in thick and dense terrain off the walking trail. A more accurate account confirming her death followed within roughly ten minutes. The Sydney Morning Herald has described the family as holding the mistaken belief for nearly 20 minutes.
Investigation into a search code
Emergency services are examining whether a misunderstanding over a police code led to Hooper being identified as alive. State Emergency Service Commissioner Mike Wassing told ABC that codes are commonly assigned in large searches and are usually linked to specific conditions, such as water bottles. He did not confirm whether the reference to half a bottle of water was such a code.
CNN reports that NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon apologized unreservedly for the miscommunication and for any additional trauma caused to the family. Minns has promised to review whether procedures were strong enough for how authorities, families and media receive information during searches, and says he plans to apologize to the family personally.
7NEWS reports that a coroner will examine both Hooper’s death and the communication breakdown. In the federal parliament, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the loss indescribable before a minute’s silence, DR reports. Her father told Channel Seven on Sunday that he hopes for a “Lily’s Law” to teach young people about the bush.
