Tributes flow for Nambour teen

FRIENDS battling to cope with the death of a Nambour teenager after he disappeared at Wappa Falls have turned to Facebook to post tributes.

Friends have turned to Facebook to write tributes for Mitchell Edwards whose body was recovered after a swimming tragedy at Wappa Falls near Yandina.

FRIENDS battling to cope with the death of  a Nambour teenager after he disappeared at Wappa Falls have turned to Facebook to post tributes.

Police divers found the body of Nambour High student Mitchell Edwards, 15, this afternoon after searching for about 30 minutes.

Divers were only able to enter the water after flood waters through the swimming hole eased in the afternoon.

"I can not believe you are gone,'' one friend wrote on Facebook this afternoon.

"I am gonna miss your cheeky little remarks.

"My heart dropped when I heard the news.''

Others expressed disbelief that the teenager was gone.

"Mitch come back!! Please let this just b a stupid joke... ur puting us through hell.''

Mitchell was  was last seen for just a few seconds in the thick of a frenzy of floodwater at Wappa Falls, near Yandina, at 11.20am yesterday.

He had jumped into the water, according to police, from a rock ledge three metres above.

Mitchell was at the popular Sunshine Coast hinterland with several friends, but police said he  was the only one who entered the water.

The teen lives at Nambour with his father.

His mother and older brother are on their way to the Sunshine Coast, flying in from Adelaide this afternoon.

Water police, police divers, and SES rescue crews arrived at Wappa Falls at first light this morning.

Police fear for missing boy

A HEARTBROKEN family clings to hope rescuers will end their nightmare by today finding a 15-year-old Nambour boy feared drowned at a notorious Sunshine Coast swimming hole.

The young teenager was last seen for just a few seconds in the thick of a frenzy of flood water at Wappa Falls, near Yandina, at 11.20am yesterday.

He had jumped into the water, according to police, from a rock ledge three metres above.

The missing boy was at the popular Sunshine Coast hinterland with several friends, but police said the missing teenager was the only one who entered the water.

The extent of the treacherous under-currents of Wappa Falls became evident when police declared the water too dangerous for police divers to enter.

The Daily understands the missing teenager’s distraught father had joined the search and rescue team at the site yesterday.

The boy’s visibly upset friends are believed to have raised the alarm to emergency services shortly after he went missing.

Conditions had begun to ease by late afternoon, according to a police spokesman, but the nature of search efforts today would be determined by any further rainfall overnight.

The Daily understands police had put a net across the creek to assist them with their rescue operation by late afternoon

Police confirmed late last night yesterday’s rescue efforts would today become a recovery operation.

The tragedy struck at the hearts of rescuers who walked the all-too-familiar ground for six hours yesterday.

The sombre and silent search was only broken by the voices of about ten SES volunteers whose calls to the missing teenager travelled both sides of a 500 metre stretch of north Maroochy River.

“It is just a torrent of water,” a witness told the Daily.

More than 120 millimetres of rain has fallen in the area in the last seven days.

“It was extremely sombre to see these rescuers searching again for a missing teenager, many of whom were here almost exactly to the day three years before.”

Nambour teenager Dominic Hayes drowned at the swimming hole on December 18, 2007.

The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service swift water response team and SES volunteers were stood down from the search at 4pm yesterday, according to a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman.

“Police are now the primary authority in charge of the search and any other emergency services will assist if requested for the remainder of the search” she said.

Authorities have again delivered a stern warning for children and adults to keep away from flooded waterways.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management told the Daily there is clear signage urging people not to swim or dive into Wappa Falls.

“There is a sign clearly warning visitors not to dive or swim in the area has been in place on the track above the falls on Wappa Conservation Park for about three years,” a DERM spokesman said.

The recovery operation is expected to begin at first light this morning.

Search for teen at Wappa Falls

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Originally published as Tributes flow for Nambour teen