An investigation is underway into a communication breakdown involving a radio code word that led to the false belief that 18-year-old hiker Lily Hooper had survived before her body was discovered. Hooper's family was briefly informed she was alive after a volunteer found her body on Thursday in Nattai National Park, southwest of Sydney.
NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing confirmed that the service uses codes during search and rescue operations and will participate in a multi-agency investigation into the communications. He stated that police, the lead agency in the search, assigned Hooper a code. "It's quite common during search-and-rescue operations, police will set a code for the search-and-rescue operators to use with respect to if they find the missing person," Wassing said. He added that these codes are typically associated with an aspect like "bottles of water" and are used to separate logistical information from any family members who might be monitoring radio channels.
The NSW SES is working with the police to understand the misinformation that arose from the code. "We are looking at identifying how this occurred, and to make sure we work as agencies collectively, to make sure that this can't occur again," Wassing stated, emphasizing that the focus is not on blame.
Nearly 1,000 searchers spent eight days scouring the dense national park in the Southern Highlands for signs of Hooper. Her body was found a significant distance from her car in thick, dense bushland characterized by steep cliffs, which complicated the recovery effort, according to Assistant Commissioner Joseph Cassar.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Premier Chris Minns have both apologized for the miscommunication. Minns had initially expressed relief in parliament based on the incorrect reports before retracting his statement. He indicated he would personally apologize to the Hooper family, who have requested privacy as they grieve.
Lanyon explained that the message would have passed through multiple police commands to the minister for police and then to the premier's office. He regretted the "embarrassment and confusion caused by the miscommunication" and the additional trauma it may have inflicted on Hooper's family, who had conveyed their relief to the media while believing their daughter was alive.
Hooper disappeared on Wednesday, August 12, after leaving her Oakdale home for a hike. She did not return that evening and could not be reached on her mobile phone, prompting the extensive search. Her body was recovered on Thursday night.