SYDNEY, March 12 (Reuters) – Australian police have recovered two bodies during a search for two Chinese backpackers who went missing in a flood-hit region in the country’s east, local media reported on Thursday.
The bodies, believed to be those of the missing Chinese tourists, were found inside a car, national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp reported, citing police.
Police divers and emergency personnel were expected to be at the scene in the Gympie region of Queensland state on Thursday to confirm the identities of the bodies, ABC News said.
Australian police said in a statement that the missing tourists – a 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman – had been travelling to North Burnett in Queensland, about 380 km (236 miles) northwest of Brisbane, the state capital.
Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig described the incident as an “absolute tragedy”.
“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country … and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives,” he told ABC News.
Major flood warnings remained in place in parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory after incessant rains caused rivers to burst their banks, cutting off rural towns and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate.
A helicopter rescued two people from a car stuck in crocodile-inhabited waters at a creek crossing near the town of Katherine in Northern Territory, television footage showed on Wednesday.
Authorities have urged residents to avoid driving through floodwaters, warning that several crocodiles have been sighted in inundated suburbs around Katherine.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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