Police searching for a 19-year-old woman who disappeared on a bushwalk in the Royal National Park have found a body at the base of a cliff on Thursday morning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Sydney woman Shazia Edah-Tally and her boyfriend set out on Wednesday along the track from Bundeena towards Wedding Cake Rock, a scenic and popular viewing point about four kilometres south along the cliff-top walking track.
Ms Edah-Tally's boyfriend phoned police just before 5pm that day to say he had become separated from his girlfriend during the afternoon, and she had not returned to their nominated meeting point.
Police from the Sutherland Local Area Command and State Emergency Service volunteers launched a search for her on Wednesday night, but found no trace of her along the walking track.
The search was suspended just before midnight.
A police helicopter, the dog squad and police resumed the search early on Thursday morning.
Ms Edah-Tally's boyfriend also returned to the national park to show officers where he had last seen her.
Just after 11am, police said they had discovered a body at the bottom of a cliff.
Police are attempting to retrieve the body, which has not yet been formally identified.
Speaking to the media at the search site, Sutherland police Inspector Steve Worthington said it was highly likely that the body retrieved was that of Ms Edah-Tally.
‘’They were bushwalking, they were going down this coast track and having some fun,’’ he said, of the couple’s movements in the lead-up to Shazia Edah-Tally’s disappearance.
‘’They were running ahead of each other and things of that nature.’’
Members of Ms Edah-Tally's family gathered at the site.
A helicopter was used to retrieve the body.
Investigations into the matter are continuing and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
Ms Edah-Tally, a Macquarie University student, was wearing jeans, a top and a brown scarf at the time she went missing, and did not have any food or water with her, police said.
In recent years, Wedding Cake Rock has experienced a dramatic increase in visitors wanting to take photographs on the stark white cliff-top formation, spurred on by images of the site appearing on social media.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service last year started handing out fines to visitors who blatantly disregarded signs warning visitors not to climb on the rock.
