Bodies Left Hanging
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday June 14, 2000
Two men died during a weekend abseiling expedition to the Blue Mountains, their bodies left suspended above the base of a freezing waterfall until police reached the scene yesterday.
The two men were part of a nine-strong expedition from Newcastle University's Mountaineering Club.
Survivors of the tragedy were forced to abandon their dead colleagues in freezing conditions and attempt to walk out of the Kanangra Boyd National Park.
Sources said the bodies of the two dead men, aged in their early to mid-20s, were suspended above the base of Corra Beanga Falls by abseiling lines until Police Rescue personnel reached the scene yesterday.
The survivors, five men and two women, were forced to retreat from their position above the falls in wet, freezing conditions early yesterday morning, sources said.
They met rescuers entering the national park and heading towards the falls shortly after 8.30am, and informed them of the tragedy.
The alarm was raised early yesterday morning when concerned relatives of expedition members contacted Oberon police to say the party was overdue.
Police and about 15 volunteers from Oberon SES were marshalled to begin a search, but ran into the survivors during their trek from the falls.
A police spokesman later said the bodies of the dead men were lowered to the base of the falls, but rescuers were unable to carry them from the scene before nightfall.
They will be removed today.
It is not yet known whether they were killed by a fall, or died after being drenched by cold water from the waterfall in sub-zero temperatures.
The accident might have occurred as long ago as Saturday night, while the party was attempting to abseil down Corra Beanga Falls, a police spokesman said.
``They became stuck somehow and were unable to be freed by their friends and of course water in winter in the Oberon area is extremely cold and unfortunately they perished," he said.
``We can't directly speculate it was hypothermia ... the bodies haven't been through a post-mortem yet and that is for the coroner to determine."
The survivors are understood to be in relatively good health despite their ordeal.
The falls themselves are located about 1km above sea level and are surrounded by extremely rugged terrain, including vertical gorges that attract climbers and tourists.
Oberon SES controller Richard Stevenson said he began organising a search party and coordinating with local police at 8.30am.
He said searchers came into contact with expedition members before they had reached the falls.
``The whole Kanangra Boyd area tends to get a lot of visitors," Mr Stevenson said.
``We are involved in quite a few searches there. In a lot of cases people are overdue but walk out a couple of hours later."
SES volunteers did not proceed on to the falls after running into the survivors, he said.
A statement issued by Newcastle University described members of the expedition as ``experienced and well-prepared".
``Their trip was carefully planned and details were left with contacts in case of an emergency," it said.
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury