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  • 'A real likelihood' missing solider drowned

    Doesn't look good, but lets hope for the best anyway... This is really solid country, not a good place to get caught out in...

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin

    'A real likelihood' missing solider drowned


    The soldier went missing yesterday afternoon. (AAP: Peter Dombrovskis)

    Map: Strahan 7468
    Related Story: Fate looks grim for missing rafter, expert says
    Tasmanian police believe an Indian soldier missing in the state's rugged south-west has drowned.

    The 23-year-old man was part of a joint Indian-Australian defence force expedition rafting down the Franklin River.

    He went missing yesterday afternoon.

    Inspector Brian Edmonds says a ground, air and kayaking search is continuing, but eyewitness accounts have given police little hope of finding the man alive.

    "It is now reported to us that the Indian man was seen to fall whilst trying to get ashore at a portage around a rapid called the Cauldron," he said.

    "The man was seen to enter the water but not resurface below the rapid. That leads us to the conclusion that potentially drowning is a real likelihood."

    Members of the group are also helping with the search.

    Earlier, Graham Mitchell from Rafting Tasmania says it is a well-known rapid where another rafter died in 1985.

    "The Cauldron, where this man's gone missing, is a jumble of large boulders - serious bus-sized boulders - just jumbling up the river," he said.

    It could be weeks before the soldier's body can be retrieved.

    Inspector Edmonds says attempts to retrieve his body from the dangerous waters will have to wait until the river level drops.

    "Look it certainly will depend on the area that the man is trapped in," he said.

    "If it indeed is a few metres below the surface of the river, it could take some days and potentially weeks."

    He says the surviving members of the rafting trip are believed to be holding up well.

    "I have spoken to the leader of the expedition. They're holding up reasonably well and the army are assisting police with the ongoing search," he said.

    "But it certainly is a shock to not only his fellow party members, but police and the ADF generally."
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  • #2
    Not a good outcome unfortunately...

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin

    Tasmanian Police say they may have found the body of an Indian soldier who fell into the Franklin River in the state's south-west wilderness on Friday.

    The 23-year-old soldier was swept under water in a dangerous section of the river known as The Cauldron and did not resurface.

    Inspector Brian Edmonds says a kayak team searching the rapids found what appears to be the man's body at midday today.

    "They have located what they believe to be a body below the surface of the swift moving water within the rapid The Cauldron, in the Great Ravine," he said.

    "Certainly it's in the right position where the body was last seen to enter the water, but we are not able to confirm that it is a body at this stage."

    Inspector Edmonds says the remaining members of the Australian and Indian defence forces' expedition had been helping in the search, but are now expected to leave.

    "Later today we will begin a process assisting the army in the removal of those people back out to to Strahan, and then on to Hobart," he said.

    A plan to retrieve the body is being developed, but the rescue team will have to wait for the river level to drop.

    The soldier was part of a joint Indian-Australian defence forces training expedition.
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    • #3
      r:i:p:

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