DEVASTATING MIX-UP: Lily Hooper’s family were given a brief moment of hope when police mistakenly told them the missing 18-year-old hiker had been found alive — only for that hope to be shattered minutes later. The error reportedly came down to one misunderstood code word during the search, turning a moment of relief into heartbreaking news her family will never forget…
**Lily Hooper: Code-word mix-up behind devastating police update on missing hiker**
The family of missing teenage hiker Lily Hooper was briefly told their daughter had been found alive after an eight-day search in dense New South Wales bushland, only to have that hope shattered minutes later when police confirmed she was dead. The heartbreaking reversal stemmed from a miscommunication involving a coded radio phrase, an error that reached the state’s Premier and spread publicly before being corrected.
Lily Hooper, 18, vanished on 12 or 13 August 2026 after setting out on a hike in the Nattai National Park in the NSW Southern Highlands, roughly 90 to 100 kilometres south-west of Sydney. She was an experienced bushwalker. One of her last known communications was a photo she sent her family from the summit of the Bonnum Pic walking trail. When she failed to return home that evening, her family reported her missing. Her car was later located in a car park at the start of the challenging trail.
For more than a week, multi-agency search teams — including NSW Police, the State Emergency Service (SES), and Australian Defence Force personnel — scoured the thick, remote terrain. Conditions were difficult. Communication in the dense bushland relied on handheld radios, and the rugged landscape complicated both searching and any potential retrieval.
On Thursday 20 August, search efforts intensified again along the Bonnum Pic trail and surrounding areas. Shortly before 11.30am, an SES search party located Lily in a remote section of the park, a significant distance off the trail. What followed was a chain of communication failures that turned momentary elation into profound grief.
**The moments of false hope**
At the police command post near the search area, officers relayed to Lily’s parents, Jim and Kirrily Hooper, that their daughter had been found alive. The family, who had maintained a vigil throughout the search, erupted in celebration. Jim Hooper had brought her guitar and her favourite Tim Tams chocolates to the site that day, refusing to give up hope. Kirrily had washed her hair and worn her good sneakers, preparing for a reunion. Jim punched the air and told those around him: “Lily is alive, my girl is alive, she’s coming home, she’s coming home. I knew something was going to happen today, she’s a tough kid. I was never going to give up. She’s a beautiful girl.”
The positive news travelled rapidly up the chain of command. It reached Police Minister Yasmin Catley and then NSW Premier Chris Minns, who interrupted a parliamentary budget estimates hearing in Sydney to announce that Lily had been found alive “with half a bottle of water.” Media outlets quickly reported the apparent miracle survival after eight days missing.
Within eight to ten minutes — some accounts say around 20 to 30 minutes — a corrected message arrived. Searchers relayed that Lily had in fact been found deceased. The family was pulled aside and told the devastating truth. Tears of joy turned to grief. Premier Minns returned to the parliamentary hearing with a sombre correction: “I’ve got some terrible news. I apologise … Lily’s body has been found and she has been found deceased.”
**The code-word confusion**
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon later explained that the miscommunication was “born out of elation that Lily had been found.” He said the teenager was located in a remote area and the message may have passed through “a number of hands” before reaching the command post. “Her condition at that time was such that searchers were relieved, and certainly those at the command post relayed,” Lanyon told reporters.
7NEWS and other outlets reported that a coded phrase used to indicate whether a person had been found alive was relayed incorrectly along the communication chain. In search-and-rescue operations it is common for police to assign specific codes to search teams so that sensitive information is not overheard by family members or the public monitoring radio traffic. One reported system involves references to water bottles — full, half or empty — to signal a person’s status without using explicit language. Premier Minns’ initial reference to Lily being found “with half a bottle of water” fuelled speculation that this or a similar code had been misunderstood or misapplied.
SES Commissioner Mike Wassing confirmed that codes are routinely set by the lead agency (in this case NSW Police) and briefed to search parties. He said investigators were examining how the misinformation arose rather than assigning blame to any single agency or individual. “It’s quite common that during search and rescue operations, police will set a code for the search and rescue operators to use with respect to if they find the missing person. In this case, there was a code that was applied. We’re working currently with police with respect to any of the misinformation associated with that code.”
Lanyon offered an unreserved apology. “I unashamedly apologise for any additional trauma that may have caused Lily’s family, but certainly for the embarrassment and confusion that caused,” he said. “Tragically, that miscommunication then led to a deflation, and obviously we know now an impact on her family. Once again, I unreservedly apologise for that miscommunication.”
Premier Minns also apologised, stating he had genuinely believed he was sharing good news and was profoundly sorry if anything he said added to the family’s heartbreak.
**Recovery and next steps**
Lily’s body was recovered overnight and airlifted from the site. A post-mortem examination was scheduled in the coming days to formally confirm identity and determine the cause of death. Police and search officials noted that the terrain was so challenging that initial recovery by foot had been considered, with air retrieval proving difficult.
A coronial inquest is expected to examine not only the circumstances of Lily’s death but also how the false information about her being alive was generated and disseminated. The multi-agency review will focus on communication protocols between police, SES and other responders to prevent similar errors in future high-stakes searches.
**The human cost**
For Jim and Kirrily Hooper the emotional whiplash was acute. After days of searching, maintaining hope, and preparing for a possible reunion, they experienced a brief, intense period of celebration followed almost immediately by confirmation of their worst fears. The presence of personal items — the guitar, the Tim Tams — underscored how close the family felt to finding Lily alive.
Friends and supporters who had gathered at the command post shared in the initial joy and the subsequent crushing disappointment. The error also played out publicly in the NSW Parliament and across Australian media, amplifying the impact.
Lily was described by those who knew her as a beautiful, tough young woman and an experienced hiker. Her decision to tackle the Bonnum Pic trail, a demanding route, reflected her confidence in the bush. The park’s dense vegetation, steep terrain and remote sections have challenged search teams before. The eight-day effort involved significant resources, yet the final location proved difficult both to reach and to communicate from clearly.
**Broader questions about search communications**
The incident has prompted scrutiny of how coded language is used and verified in multi-agency operations. Handheld radios in thick bushland can suffer from signal issues, and messages that pass through several people increase the risk of misunderstanding. The speed with which the incorrect information travelled from the search team to the command post, to senior police, to the minister and finally to the Premier highlighted the pressure and high profile of the case.
Officials have stressed that the error was inadvertent and stemmed from relief at locating Lily rather than any deliberate action. Reviews are already under way to examine the relationship between police and the SES during such operations and to strengthen communication safeguards.
**A tragic conclusion to an eight-day ordeal**
Lily Hooper left home on 12 August for what should have been a day of hiking in one of New South Wales’ scenic national parks. She sent a photo from a summit, parked her car at the trailhead, and then disappeared into the bush. For eight days her family, friends and emergency services searched with determination. When she was finally found, a brief window of hope — created by a code-word mix-up — gave way to the confirmation that she had not survived.
Her body has been recovered. A post-mortem will seek answers about how she died. A coronial process will examine the search, the communications failure, and the circumstances of her death. For her parents, the memory of those few minutes of false celebration will remain intertwined with the grief of losing their daughter.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon’s apology, Premier Chris Minns’ correction and personal regret, and the commitment to review procedures offer some acknowledgement of the additional trauma inflicted. Yet nothing can undo the sequence of events that left a family believing, for a short and agonising time, that Lily was coming home — only to learn that she was not.
The Nattai National Park, the Bonnum Pic trail, the remote bushland where she was found, and the command post where hope rose and fell so quickly now form the backdrop to a story of determination, miscommunication and profound loss. Lily Hooper was 18 years old.
