Six Days Without a Trace: Desperate Search for Missing 18-Year-Old Hiker Lily Hooper Intensifies Amid Harsh Weather
Concerns are growing for a hiker missing in a national park after search teams have found “no trace” of the teenager.
Family and friends of 18-year-old Lily Hooper will scour the Nattai National Park, in the NSW Southen Highlands, as part of a multi-agency search effort for the sixth day on Monday.
Hooper left her home on Burragorang Rd in Oakdale about 8am on Wednesday to go bushwalking in the national park but has not been seen since.
The only clue to her whereabouts has been her car, which was found about 11pm on Wednesday at the beginning of the Bonnum Pic walking trail on Wanganderry Rd.
Search efforts have focused on the walking trail as initial inquiries suggest she sent a photo of herself at the summit to her family about mid-morning. It was the last known communication from the teenager before she vanished.
“We’ve just found no trace of Lily,” Chief Inspector Brendan Bernie told Sunrise on Monday.
A ground effort would be launched on Monday after a police helicopter was used to search the area on Sunday night.
It follows a weekend of poor weather which hampered already challenging conditions for the search teams.
“It’s quite dense with the bushland and there’s a dense tree canopy which also hinders our aerial searching,” Bernie said.
“However, look, we’re on the ground (and) there’s good support from the local community and our volunteers are doing a fantastic job in working with our specialist search officers from Police Rescue.”
While concerns are growing for Hooper, police still hold out hope for the “experienced hiker”.
“We know she’s got certain equipment with her. We don’t know that exact equipment and that’s part of the concern we have today, what she actually has with her,” Bernie said.
“But hopefully we’re relying on Lily’s experience to get her through this ordeal and that we can locate her safely.”
NSW Police Detective Inspector Benjamin Carey on the weekend said her family was “desperately trying to find her”.
Carey said the family is “very, very distraught” and police are “doing everything we can to support them in this challenging time”.
“We are very hopeful that Lily is still alive and we are focusing our efforts on searching for her today and hopefully delivering that outcome,” he said.
Hooper is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 175cm tall, of slim build, with long blonde hair and blue eyes.
She was last seen wearing a shirt and shorts.
Anyone with information about Hooper’s whereabouts, or walked the Bonnum Pic Walking Trail since Wednesday, is urged to contact Moss Vale Police Station or Crime Stoppers.
