Australia police recover two bodies in search for missing Chinese tourists
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SYDNEY – Australian police have recovered two bodies during a search for two Chinese backpackers who went missing in a flood-hit region in the country’s east, the local media reported on March 12.
The bodies, believed to be those of the missing Chinese tourists, were found inside a car, national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp reported, citing police.
Police divers and emergency personnel were expected to be at the scene in the Gympie region of Queensland state on March 12 to confirm the identities of the bodies, ABC News said.
Australian police said in a statement that the missing tourists – a 26-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman – had been travelling to North Burnett in Queensland, about 380km north-west of Brisbane, the state capital.
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig described the incident as an “absolute tragedy”.
“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country... and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives,” he told ABC News.
Major flood warnings remained in place in parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory after incessant rain caused rivers to burst their banks, cutting off rural towns and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate.
A helicopter rescued two people from a car stuck in crocodile-inhabited waters at a creek crossing near the town of Katherine in the Northern Territory, television footage showed on March 11.
The authorities have urged residents to avoid driving through flood waters, warning that several crocodiles have been sighted in inundated suburbs around Katherine. REUTERS
