Drowned Mossman Gorge tourist identified amid bone DNA tests
A woman who was swept away at a Far North Queensland waterfall has been identified as a Melbourne dental professional while police wait for DNA testing to link bones found in the river to the missing tourist.
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A woman presumed drowned after being washed away at Mossman Gorge in January has been identified as a Melbourne dental professional, while police wait for DNA testing to link bones found in the river to the missing tourist.
Melbourne dental assistant Vinh Chuong was reported missing on January 6 after getting into trouble and being swept away by the fast flowing water of the Mossman River
A 10-day search and rescue operation failed to recover the 54-year-old’s body.
This week a statement from Ms Chuong’s employer Westside Dental Care expressed sadness at the loss.
“We hope everything can be sorted out soon so she can rest in peace,” the Deer Park-based clinic stated.
Eight months later, after a grim discovery from a member of the public, the finding of human bones was reported to authorities on August 22.
The breakthrough came on August 28-29 when divers conducted a new search of the area and recovered more bones.
Forensic testing is under way to determine the origin of the remains.
Although bodies of previous drowning victims at the Gorge have been found, investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the recently-found bones could belong to an unknown missing person.
Taiwanese tourist Che-Wei Su died after he was swept away while swimming at Mossman Gorge with friends in 2014 and a 20-year-old American woman on a university study tour of Australia drowned in 2003, however both their bodies were later recovered from the river.
Mossman Police Officer in Charge Sergeant Matthew Smith said the discovery of human remains was not especially surprising given Ms Chuong’s disappearance.
“We have sort of been expecting this, her being underwater wedged under a rock,” he said.
Sgt Smith couldn’t say how long forensic testing would take to be completed but did indicate a failure of DNA testing to confirm speculation that bones belonged to Ms Chuong would raise a whole new line of inquiry for police.
“If it’s not her it’s going to open a can of worms,” he said.
And the discovery of missing people who later turn up dead in Far North rivers is not without precedent.
The body of missing man Glen David Torrens was found by a member of the public at Emmagen Creek in the Daintree area in October 2022 after the Nambour man was reported missing by family in August, 2021.
Ms Chuong is understood to be the first person to have died at Mossman Gorge since a coronial inquest, in 2014, examined the circumstances of Che-Wei Su’s death, including safety risks to visitors at Mossman Gorge and safety management systems.
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Originally published as Drowned Mossman Gorge tourist identified amid bone DNA tests
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