Lily Hooper: Code word mix-up behind devastating police update on missing hiker
A message relayed through police and rescue teams gave the family and friends of missing hiker Lily Hooper hope she had been found alive after a desperate eight-day search.
But that hope was dashed just minutes later as an incorrectly used code phrase is believed to have caused the confusion , which spread all the way to NSW Premier Chris Minns.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Lily Hooper’s body found after eight-day search
Search efforts returned to the the Nattai National Park, in the NSW Southern Highlands, on Thursday in hopes of finally locating the 18-year-old after she vanished without a trace on August 13.
They had focused efforts to the Bonnum Pic walking trail, which Hooper had hiked along earlier in the day. One of her last known communications was sending her family a photo from the summit of the trail.
After more than a week of mostly-fruitless searches through the dense bushland, a rescue team found Hooper.
Police initially said the teenager had miraculously been found alive, with family and friends celebrating at the police command post nearby.
The news also reached premier Chris Minns who announced it in the state’s parliament.
But police retracted the information and instead confirmed the 18-year-old had died, leaving her loved ones heartbroken.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon offered an “unreserved” apology for the error .
“I unashamedly apologise for any additional trauma that may have caused Lily’s family, but certainly for the embarrassment and confusion that caused,” Lanyon said.
Lanyon said the miscommunication was “born out of elation that Lily had been found”.
He explained that Lily was found in a “remote” area and the message may have passed through “a number of hands” before reaching the command post.
7NEWS understands a coded phrase used to identify if a person has been found alive was relayed somewhere along that chain of communication and received by the police command centre.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on 7news.com.au — the content belongs to 7NEWS Australia.
