Missing British tourist's body found in Outback
A British tourist who went missing this week in the Australian Outback after visiting Ayers Rock was found dead by Aborigines today.
Ethel Hetherington, 52, from Cockermouth in Cumbria, was last seen on Monday night at a bar in the tourist township of Yulara, 12 miles from Ayers Rock, a giant red monolith also known by its Aboriginal name Uluru, Northern Territory police said.
A group of Aborigines came upon her body this morning about 30 miles south-east of Yulara on the opposite side of the rock.
Superintendent Craig Ryan, the head of the police investigation, would not say how she probably died or how she reached the remote desert location where her body was found.
“I can’t speculate on the cause at the moment, it’s still under investigation,” he said. “We believe we’ll be able to release more information on Thursday after we’ve completed our preliminary inquiries.”
Detectives and forensic experts had travelled from Alice Springs, the nearest town, 273 miles to the north-east, to examine the scene.
Mrs Hetherington had arrived at Yulara with her cousin and her cousin’s husband on Saturday with plans to leave today, Supt. Ryan said.
Yulara is a tourist outpost with a permanent population of 1,200 that regularly expands to 4,000 as international sightseers travel to Australia’s sparsely populated desert heart to see the famous landmark.
Mrs Hetherington’s two companions, whom police have not named, reported her missing yesterday morning after discovering she had not returned to her room overnight.
Police and Yulara volunteers launched a land and air search of the desert surroundings with the help of local Aboriginal trackers who have been taught traditional hunting methods of following the tracks of animals. The search resumed today with additional police flown into Yulara airport.
The Aborigines who found Hetherington were not part of the official search.
They were driving home to the Mutitjulu Aboriginal community, a ramshackle centre of 350 people at the base of the rock, when they found the body.
Members of the community declined to comment.
