Police in the Australian island state of Tasmania announced on Sunday they would join a privately organized search for a Belgian woman who disappeared in the wilderness more than two years ago, following the discovery of her mobile phone.
Celine Cremer's friends and family arranged a private search this weekend in bushlands near Philosopher Falls, where she went missing in June 2023. Her car was located nearby by police shortly after her disappearance, but multiple official searches yielded no trace of her.
On Saturday, in an area authorities had previously combed, the private search party found a mobile phone confirmed to belong to Cremer. Tasmania Police stated the device would undergo further forensic examination and that they were now formally joining the independent search effort.
"Phone data, as well as the location it was found, supports our theory that Celine may have, using an app on her phone, elected to leave the Philosopher Falls track to take a more direct route back to her car as daylight faded," said Inspector Andrew Hanson.
"We suspect she dropped her phone and continued without it, becoming disoriented in dense terrain."
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that four of Cremer's friends traveled from Belgium to participate in the renewed search, which began Saturday and is scheduled to last five days.
Cremer was last seen on June 17, 2023, and her friends reported her missing nine days later. Police indicated the winter weather conditions in the days following her disappearance were not survivable for the length of time she was believed to have been exposed.
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Source: REUTERS