SYDNEY, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Police in Australia's Tasmania said on Sunday they would join a privately organised search for a Belgian woman who went missing in wilderness more than two years ago, after her mobile phone was discovered in the southern island state.
Celine Cremer's friends and family arranged a private search this weekend of bushlands near Philosopher Falls, where she went missing in June 2023. Her car was found nearby by police a few days later but multiple searches failed to find any trace of her.
On Saturday in an area previously searched by authorities, the search party found a mobile phone which has been confirmed as belonging to Cremer and will now undergo further forensic examination, Tasmania police said in a statement, adding that it is 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 said four of Cremer's friends travelled from Belgium to join the renewed search, which started on Saturday and was expected to run for five days.
Cremer was last seen on June 17, 2023 and her friends reported her disappearance nine days later. Police said the winter weather conditions in the days since her disappearance were not survivable for the duration she was believed to have been exposed.
(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
