Body of bushwalker retrieved from Southern Highlands bushland

The body of 18-year-old bushwalker Lily Hooper has been recovered from dense bushland in the NSW Southern Highlands, hours after it was discovered by a search and rescue team following an eight-day search.

The body was retrieved after 6pm on Thursday, a police source confirmed to the Herald .

The body was discovered in scrub in the Nattai National Park by an SES rescuer about 11.30am on Thursday. Initial reports from the rescuers led to confusion about whether Hooper was alive, before updated information conveyed to the search operation’s command post confirmed she had died.

An autopsy to determine the circumstances and cause of Hooper’s death is expected to take place in the coming days, but could begin on Friday. Formal identification will also occur soon.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has shouldered the blame for the communication error that led to the belief Hooper was alive.

The incorrect information was passed to Premier Chris Minns, who announced to a budget estimates committee that Hooper had been found alive on Thursday, just to withdraw the news minutes later.

“I unashamedly apologise for any additional trauma that may have caused Lily’s family,” Lanyon said on Thursday.

“The miscommunication obviously was born out of elation that Lily had been found, and her condition at that time was such that searchers were relieved … Tragically, that miscommunication then led to a deflation.”

Hundreds of searchers had scoured dense bush in the national park looking for Hooper since she was reported missing on August 12. She had left her Oakdale home in Sydney’s south-west that morning to hike the Bonnum Pic walking trail, a strenuous, rugged track with limited phone signal.

The rescue personnel included members of the Australian Defence Force, police riding on horseback and motorbikes, firefighters, national park rangers, paramedics and SES volunteers. Police helicopters and drones also scoured the national park from the air.

Lanyon had spoken to NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing and said he would review the communication failure, he told reporters on Thursday.

“This is not a circumstance I would like to see repeated,” Lanyon said.

Minns apologised on Thursday for sharing the false information, saying he “genuinely believed” he was sharing positive news.

“I am profoundly sorry to think that anything I said may have added to their heartbreak at an already devastating time,” the premier said.