On March 12th, police divers in Australia recovered bodies of two missing Chinese backpackers after they were found dead submerged beneath floodwaters. The 26-year old male and 23-year old female, Yunchen Guo (23) and Qingwei Qiu (26), failed to arrive to their intended destination, so a major search operation was commenced.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwing described the incident as an “absolute tragedy” (Reuters.com). He also “called for more to be done to make tourists aware of the dangers of the floodings” (Upi.com). Police Minister Dan Purdie said, “the bodies were recovered on Thursday morning. The dive squad officers… retrieved two deceased persons from a car that had been washed off the road” (ABC.net.au). At first the bodies weren’t confirmed as the 23-year old and 26-year old backpackers. 

The couple was to go to “Mundeberra and do fruit picking, their new job” (abc.net.au). Glen Hartwing said, “Getting that message to tourists… is an essential thing the federal government should start to look at.”