British teenager's body found on mountain
A team of Malaysian rescuers has found the body of missing British tourist Ellie James.
Ellie disappeared during a trek on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo, on Thursday but hopes were growing that she could be found alive after rescuers found signs of her on the hillside.
However Superintendemt Sanali Amit of Malaysia Police said a search team found the 17-year-old's body at 10.15am on Wednesday.
"We are sure it is her," said Park Warden Abdul Wahab Siman.
The rescuers concentrated their search in an area about four miles wide near the foot of the mountain, well down the slopes from the peaks where she had last been seen a week ago.
Ellie had tied plastic bags to trees to mark her trail for search teams, and her parents reported that she was familiar with jungle survival techniques.
But the area was bereft of food, and experienced mountaineers said that she would have found little nourishment besides plant shoots and rain water.
Temperatures had dropped to a few degrees above freezing during her ordeal and the mountain was lashed by rain and winds gusting up to 70mph over the weekend. Search aircraft were grounded much of the time.
Ellie and her family, from Cornwall, and a group of other British trekkers climbed the mountain last week and began their descent the following day.
On the way down, Ellie's father, Bruce, 54, and mother, Claire, 49, realised she and her brother Henry, 15, were missing and alerted rangers. According to Henry, who was found six hours later, his sister told him to stay at one place while she went to seek help.
