Searchers Fear Worst For Missing Boarders

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday August 17, 1999

Searchers have exhausted their best hopes of finding four snowboarders lost for more than a week in the Snowy Mountains.

Yesterday heavy machinery cleared hundreds of tonnes of snow which had collapsed from Kosciuszko Cornice, a snow cave south-east of Australia's highest peak, but found no trace of the Sydney men.

This ended the theory that they had been buried while sheltering from extraordinary blizzard conditions.

Police with metal detectors failed to find any trace of a collapsed snow cave in two areas at Twynam Creek where the four had camped in past winters.

Police area commander Charlie Sanderson admitted his surprise that one of the most intensive searches in the history of the Kosciuszko National Park had failed to find any trace.

``The basis on which you search as hard as we've searched is that you would expect to find some clue as to the whereabouts of these people," Superintendent Sanderson said.

``It would indicate that there are no clues on the land (snow surface) so we've got to look underneath."

Police will today refocus back on Lake Albina, the camp site Scott Beardsmore, 26, his brother Paul, 24, and their 25-year-old companions Dean Pincini and Timothy Friend had proposed before they began their three-day adventure 10 days ago.

``We've been there; we've been over that on multiple occasions; we've looked for signs of people camping; they're not there," Supt Sanderson said.

A week after the search began, Supt Sanderson said it would continue in the hope of a miracle.

``The hope of finding them alive has diminished in the last couple of days," he said.

``We would hope that we can have a miracle and find them alive.

``But the fact that we've found no clues is not heartening in that regard."

Meantime, the Army has sent an aircraft fitted with state-of-the-art thermal imaging equipment to help in the search.

The Beech 350 Super King Air left Oakey Air Base in Queensland about 3.15pm yesterday after a request from the State Emergency Operations Centre and was expected to arrive in Cooma early last night.

It will join the hunt as soon as the crew has been briefed by search authorities.