Missing Coast bushwalker found dead
- 7th August 2008
Missing bushwalker Robert Young.
THE body of a 65-year-old Sunshine Coast man missing since Saturdayin rugged bushland near the Queensland-NSW border has been found,police say.
Robert Young, from Bli Bli, had not been seen sincehe became separated from a group of walkers in the Lamington NationalPark, in the Gold Coast hinterland, on Saturday afternoon.
A bushwalker assisting the search found the body in a ravine, police said.
Attempts are now underway to recover the body.
Mr Young went missing while walking near Running Creek Falls in Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland last Saturday afternoon.
Sixty soldiers recently returned from service in Iraq yesterday joined police, SES volunteers, helicopters, friends and family in the search for him.
Soldiersfrom 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment of the Queensland Mounted Infantrywith specialist equipment camped in the park overnight and resumedsearching this morning.
Mr Young was wearing only shorts, a T-shirt and boots when he became separated from his friends in the park early.
Aman who was walking with him on the day he disappeared told theSunshine Coast Daily yesterday that Mr Young did not hear pleas fromhis co-walkers to stay with the group.
The 65-year-old was walking a distance ahead of the main group of seven, Buderim resident Alan Winter said.
“He was walking in front of us,” Mr Winter said.
“We tried to attract his attention but with the noise of the creek and Robert’s industrial deafness, he didn’t hear us.”
MrWinter said while the Lamington walk was not considered to be adifficult or dangerous one, people could get lost quite easily, and hesaid he had not done that particular bushwalk before.
“The creek area where we were walking had boulders as large as houses,” he said.
“You can lose sight of people easily.”
BliBli Riverside Caravan Village manager Jan Rundell said yesterday thatMr Young, who lived at the park, was a “thorough gentleman”.
“He’s a really nice man who never bothered anyone,” she said.
Ms Rundell said Mr Young kept himself to himself, and he loved the environment as a “wonderful element of life”.
“Gentlemen like Mr Young are few and far between.”
Searchcoordinators believe Mr Young might have attempted to walk out of thepark, which made it more difficult to predict his location.
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