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New Year’s tragedy as body of a 20-year-old swimmer is discovered after he went missing during a camping trip with mates to ring in 2021
- Body of man who went missing on a New Year’s Eve camping trip has been found
- Man, 20 was swimming with a group of friends in the Mary River late Thursday
- Extensive search launched after friends raised the alarm shortly after midnight
- Man’s body found on Friday 80 metres from where he was last seen swimming
A New Year’s camping trip has ended in tragedy after police divers found the body of a young man who vanished in a river.
The swimmer, 20, had wading in waist-deep water with a group of mates near Gympie in south-east Queensland late Thursday night.
The group were using vehicle headlights to illuminate the Mary River near a camping ground at Kybong when they noticed their friend had disappeared and raised the alarm shortly after midnight.
Police launched a search operation with the help of Queensland Fire and Emergency Service swift water rescue crews, which was extended to include other emergency services at first light.
The young man’s body was found by police divers 80 metres from where he was last seen swimming around noon on Friday.
Police divers have found the body of a man who vanished in the Mary River on Thursday night. Pictured is an aerial search of the scene by the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter on Friday
His family seen comforting each other after rushing to the scene of the search have been informed of the tragic news.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter spent almost an hour searching the river before above before it was diverted to another mission.
State Emergency Service volunteers spent the morning scouring nearby bushland.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
‘Absolute devastation is the way I would describe it,’ Acting Sergeant Bill Greer told the ABC.
The search will continue during the day as police divers scour the waterway and State Emergency Service personnel comb through nearby bushland (pictured, Queensland police divers are pictured in 2015)
He said the river was not deep but that the water was moving quickly.
‘They are not great conditions — there has been some fresh [water] in the river,’ Acting Sergeant Greer said.
Other campers heard police and other people frantically looking for the swimmer.
‘We were camping right on the river but didn’t hear anything [when he went in], but heard heaps of people walking around yelling and looking for him though,’ Callum Rock said.
The man vanished in the Mary River (pictured) near a camping ground at Kybong near Gympie
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