Overview

• Rescuers retrieved the bodies on Saturday morning after camping overnight due to severe weather and the site’s remoteness near Cleve Cole Hut.
• Police say the deaths appear non-suspicious and likely resulted from severe hypothermia in recent blizzard-like conditions with temperatures down to −2.8C, 83 km/h winds and snowfall.
• The women are believed to be in their 20s or 30s, and police report no matching missing-person cases as they appeal for public help to identify them.
• Hikers discovered the pair on Friday afternoon, and authorities including uniformed officers, the Search and Rescue Squad and the Air Wing responded once conditions allowed.
• Investigators note the women may have been at the location for two to three days, and they stress there is no link to the separate Dezi Freeman manhunt.