No stone will be \u201cleft unturned\u201d by search and rescue teams hellbent on finding missing 18-year-old hiker Lily Hooper six days after she was reported missing, rescuers have vowed.<\/p>\n
Ms Hooper left her home about 8am last Wednesday on a hike in Nattai National Park, but did not returned.<\/p>\n
Search and rescue teams are now narrowing their scope to locate the missing hiker in a \u201cmuch smaller area\u201d in the Bonnum Pic trail area in Sydney\u2019s southwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cLily is an experienced bushwalker, we are relying on her experience to get her through this ordeal and we are still hoping that she will be found alive and safe,\u201d chief inspector Brendan Bernie said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an ongoing search and rescue operation, we will be here as long as it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s an 18-year-old, she\u2019s very fit and she\u2019s an experienced bushwalker and we\u2019re hoping that holds her in good stead.\u201d <\/p>\n
SES teams searching through \u201cincredibly arduous\u201d terrain have said \u201cthere\u2019s no stone being left unturned\u201d. <\/p>\n
The update follows Ms Hooper\u2019s father emotionally phoning breakfast radio to plead for public support.<\/p>\n
While 2SM Breakfast Host Tim Webster was fielding calls on Monday morning, a man who identified himself as the father of missing hiker Lily Hooper said he had decided to \u201cbite the bullet\u201d and speak publicly about the search.<\/p>\n
Audibly choking back tears, Ms Hooper\u2019s father said he was \u201cvery upset\u201d and he wanted people to \u201ccross their fingers\u201d as the search for the missing teen entered its fourth day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to find her today. I\u2019m going back to her now, I\u2019m just putting my boots on, and I just want everyone to throw love and energy because we\u2019ve gotta go and find her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find this kid. She\u2019s got to be in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hooper\u2019s father has searched for his missing daughter but until now has refrained from directly addressing the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very quiet, I don\u2019t post anything on social media or anything like that and I thought \u2026 I\u2019m just going to bite the bullet and ring up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want everyone out there to cross their fingers and hope we find her today because it\u2019s been too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 11pm, Lily\u2019s car was found parked on Wanganderry Rd, near the start of the Bonnum Pic Walking Trail at High Range, and a command post was established,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitial inquiries indicate Lily reached the summit of Bonnum Pic about midmorning; however, there\u2019s been no further contact since that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite dense with bushland and there\u2019s a dense tree canopy which also hinders our aerial searching. However, we\u2019re on the ground, there\u2019s a good support from the local community and our volunteers are doing a fantastic job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to AllTrails, the Bonnum Pic track \u201crequires significant self-reliance\u201d due to post-bushfire regrowth, making parts of the trail overgrown and difficult to follow.<\/p>\n
Police Rescue, NSW Ambulance, Fire and Rescue NSW, SES and members of Lily\u2019s family have been working throughout the weekend to find her.<\/p>\n
Volunteer rescue squads from as far north as Cessnock have also been mobilised to help in the search.<\/p>\n
The search will continue on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No stone will be \u201cleft unturned\u201d by search and rescue teams hellbent on finding missing 18-year-old hiker Lily…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1006924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[403038,403097,403093,396778,403067,144068,403060,403103,403061,403082,403053,403087,392531,403101,398960,382415,403070,403071,308459,403068,403046,403069,4740,403039,403059,374245,55070,403086,403072,403051,403096,29666,130078,403058,403092,403049,392541,403047,403074,403042,35201,403083,403085,403094,131312,3403,403036,57434,403056,403081,9548,15978,403052,403077,400416,50,260317,403078,403102,403098,22234,403044,403054,403084,30798,3546,7207,403037,12647,403043,35101,403075,5812,403080,70365,403076,403104,403073,403089,13048,30780,373479,403035,403079,403045,403064,403034,355305,397113,403041,403091,403100,403099,400772,403050,403095,378592,403048,403055,403040,403105,148268,403090,403063,403065,403057,403062,403088,403066],"class_list":["post-1006923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-s-car","tag-s-family","tag-s-father","tag-s-southwest","tag-incredibly-arduous-terrain","tag-144068","tag-18-year-old-hiker-lily-hooper","tag-2sm-breakfast-host-tim-webster","tag-8am","tag-a-much-smaller-area","tag-a-command-post","tag-a-dense-tree-canopy","tag-a-fantastic-job","tag-a-good-support","tag-a-hike","tag-a-man","tag-a-young-hiker","tag-about-11pm","tag-alltrails","tag-an-18-year-old","tag-an-experienced-bushwalker","tag-an-ongoing-search-and-rescue-operation","tag-australia","tag-bonnum-pic","tag-breakfast-radio","tag-bushland","tag-calls","tag-cessnock","tag-chief-inspector-brendan-bernie","tag-dense-bushland","tag-desperate-search","tag-difficulties","tag-fire-and-rescue-nsw","tag-follow-police-rescue","tag-good-stead","tag-her-experience","tag-her-home","tag-her-today","tag-her-volunteer-rescue-squads","tag-high-range","tag-hiker","tag-his-missing-daughter","tag-initial-inquiries","tag-its-fourth-day","tag-last-wednesday","tag-lily","tag-love-and-energy","tag-members","tag-midmorning","tag-missing-hiker-lily-hooper","tag-monday","tag-morning","tag-ms-hooper","tag-my-boots","tag-nattai-national-park","tag-news","tag-newswire-news","tag-no-further-contact","tag-no-stone","tag-no-trace","tag-nsw-ambulance","tag-nsw-police-chief-inspector-brendan-bernie","tag-our-aerial-searching","tag-our-volunteers","tag-parts","tag-people","tag-police","tag-post-bushfire-regrowth","tag-public","tag-rescue-crews","tag-rescuers","tag-returned-search-and-rescue-teams","tag-search","tag-search-and-rescue-teams","tag-ses","tag-ses-teams","tag-significant-self-reliance","tag-six-days","tag-social-media-or-anything","tag-sydney","tag-ta","tag-tears","tag-that-time","tag-the-bonnum-pic-track","tag-the-bonnum-pic-trail-area","tag-the-bonnum-pic-walking-trail","tag-the-bullet","tag-the-father","tag-the-ground","tag-the-local-community","tag-the-media-ned-15293-hiker-missing-in-nattai-national-park","tag-the-missing-hiker","tag-the-missing-teen","tag-the-search","tag-the-search-audibly","tag-the-search-the-search","tag-the-start","tag-the-summit","tag-the-terrain","tag-the-trail","tag-the-update","tag-the-weekend","tag-their-fingers","tag-their-ongoing-efforts","tag-their-scope","tag-their-search","tag-this-kid","tag-this-ordeal","tag-wanganderry-rd"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1006924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}