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The body of missing Australian hiker Lily Hooper has been recovered after authorities mistakenly reported that the 18-year-old had been found alive.

Hooper was discovered dead in bushland in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands on Thursday, only minutes after reports circulated that she had survived the eight-day search.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon apologised to Hooper’s family on Friday over the communication error.

Hooper, an experienced hiker, was reported missing last week, prompting a large-scale search involving around 1,000 people.

NSW Police said her body was airlifted from Nattai National Park, south-west of Sydney.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out in the coming days to formally confirm her identity and determine the cause of death, police said.

The confusion began when Minns told a state parliamentary hearing on Thursday that search teams had found Hooper alive with half a bottle of water.

About 30 minutes later, he corrected the statement, confirming that Hooper’s body had been found and that she was deceased.

Several Australian media organisations had already published reports saying the teenager had been found alive before quickly retracting or correcting them.

The error also gave Hooper’s parents a brief period of hope before they learned that their daughter had died.

Minns said on Friday that he planned to speak directly with the family and personally apologise.

“The government, myself – we’re profoundly sorry,” he said.

NSW State Emergency Services Commissioner Mike Wassing explained that coded terms are often used during major search operations.

The codes are designed to prevent sensitive information from being shared over radio communications, particularly when searches involve emergency personnel, police, relatives, friends and community volunteers.

Wassing said some codes can relate to items such as bottles of water, although he did not confirm whether that was the cause of Thursday’s mistake.

Police Commissioner Lanyon said communication can become difficult during large-scale searches in remote locations.

“Tragically, her condition was miscommunicated, and for that I apologise,” he said.

He added that police would review their communication policies and procedures to ensure similar mistakes are avoided in future search operations.

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The Amadabo of Finima in Bonny local government area of Rivers State, HRH Aseme Alabo Dagogo Lambert Brown in the early hours of today, August 22, 2026 narroy escaped an assassination attempt on his life.

However, the Amadabo was not at home when the blood thirsty hoodlums fired sporadically at the building housing the living rooms of the monarch and other households.

Unfortunately, some members were seriously injured and rushed to hospitals for emergency medical attention.

Condemning the heinous crime, Aseme Alabo Dagogo Lambert Brown stated that they had received intelligence reports of importation of hoodlums into the community.

He blamed the Bonny Traditional Authorities of sponsoring a faction of Tobin House to cause mayhem.

He called on law enforcement agencies to urgently investigate the matter and bring perpetrators.

Transcript of the attached voice.

“It is very painful and regretful of what I see today in Finima.

We have envisaged this. We live in the community, we have the intelligence, information is coming here and there, and we communicated same intelligence to the security agencies that we are having mercenaries imported into Finima for the sake of a strange event that wants to happen.

Must all of us die because one faction of the Tobin house in Finima, being sponsored by the Bonny Traditional Authorities, wants to perform things that are strange in Finima?

God will never allow that to happen. God will never allow—we saw it. All this happening is to intimidate me and my people for saying this is not how we are living as a people. We live as one people. All the cultural institutions are in full participation by the chieftaincy houses in Finima. There’s no separation.

Why? Because we want to avoid any rivalry group or things that will cause disunity in Finima. That is how our upgrowing—that’s how we’ve grown up in Finima.

And these are one of the outcomes, very regretful. I want to appeal to the law enforcement agencies today that people behind this heinous act are culprits—people, culprits to this heinous act—are arrested and prosecuted.

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Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, says the long-delayed Apo-Karshi road will finally be completed and handed over by November, putting an end to a 15-year wait for residents in the axis.

Wike gave the assurance in Abuja on Saturday, after inspecting the progress of the project as well as the 14-kilometre Bwari Kubwa Road.

He explained that the 13.5-kilometer road, originally awarded in 2011 under previous administrations, has been a major point of frustration for motorists experiencing daily traffic congestion between satellite communities and the Abuja city center.

He explained that the current administration was forced to revoke the original contract due to persistent delays and re-award it to construction firm SCC Nigeria Ltd.

“The Apo-Karshi road has been a topical issue. It was awarded in 2010, one of those projects President Bola Tinubu inherited.

“Because of its importance and the complaints by residents, we had to terminate the contract and award it to SCC, which we know has the capacity to complete the job.

“Residents who have been crying for years can now see that this government has come to their aid,” he said.

The minister praised the contractor for maintaining progress on-site regardless of funding cycles, reaffirming the government’s commitment to honoring its financial obligations.

The minister also inspected the ongoing construction of the 14-kilometre Bwari-Kubwa road, stressing that the contractor had promised to deliver the critical road in December.

He emphasised that the tangible delivery of infrastructure projects serves as the strongest argument for the administration’s governance model, downplaying traditional political campaigning in favor of visible results.

“When people ask me about campaigns, I say, ‘What is campaign? See the campaign. Campaign is about what you have done for the people and what the government has to show.

“It is not about promises; it is about taking action that positively impacts lives,” he said.

With multiple road networks approaching completion across the FCT, the minister expressed confidence that the administration would surpass its initial 10 projects target for inauguration between December and January 2027.