Tragic end for two campers missing in Gippsland alps since Friday

The family of a woman missing in Victoria’s alps has wept as the search for Caleb Forbes and Shannon Lowden entered its final day, with police revealing the tragic outcome.

Police searched for the two missing campers who set off on a trip to the Thomson Dam and Walhalla area on Friday. Picture: Jo O'Doherty

The search for two missing campers who set off on a trip to the Thomson Dam a week ago has ended in tragedy.

Members of Victoria Police’s off-road motorcycle unit found the bodies of Shannon Lowden, 21, and Caleb Forbes, 22, about 11am.

They found the young couple still in their car, off the Trig East Track, about 5km east of the Thomson Dam.

The Herald Sun understands the driver lost control of the vehicle and plunged off the side of the road down a nearly sheer drop.

“Our two campers were found deceased inside the car,” Inspector Shane Cashman said.

“It’s a very difficult track to negotiate, it’s a sheer, almost a sheer drop to the side.

“We’ll put some work into finding out the causation as to what’s actually occurred to make that car leave the road.”

Where the missing campers were found.

The next step for police investigating will be for the bodies to be removed from the car.

Their families learned the shocking news in the early hours of Friday afternoon.

“I’ve spoken with the family and they are understandably devastated,” Insp Cashman said.

“It’s very, very difficult for everybody concerned.

“It’s upsetting for everybody that we haven’t been able to find them safety.”

He said the search was long and hard and wanted to thank the community for their massive outpouring of support and offers for help.

“The community response has been as good as we’ve ever seen,” Insp Cashman said.

“It’s been almost a week of searching for Caleb and Shannon.

“Thank you very much for the community for all you’ve given us.”

Police will investigate the circumstances and prepare a report for the coroner.

More than 100 people joined the search this morning. Picture: Tamsin Rose

Earlier today, more than 100 people were searching for the two missing campers, who had not been seen for a week.

The search for pair entered its fifth day today.

Friends, family and total strangers have searched side-by-side today, with the woman’s family embracing and crying outside the Rawson police station before heading out to search near Walhalla this morning.

Earlier, the families of the pair were visibly upset before they set out to look today.

“They are justifiably concerned,” Inspector Shane Cashman said.

“They are missing their family dearly. They really want them to come home.”

Shannon’s brother Matt said he’d only been able to get a few hours sleep each night since his sister went missing.

“I’ve never seen my dad cry before (today),” he said.

Today’s search efforts focused around Walhalla and to the south and southeast of the Thomson Dam, where the pair were eventually found.

Caleb Forbes with his car. Picture: Facebook

Shannon Lowden. Picture: Facebook

It came after a large contingency of volunteers on motorbike headed out early yesterday to search smaller tracks above the snow line in the Gippsland alps.

An unconfirmed sighting of the missing car yesterday shifted the search focus to an area around the Donnelly Creek and Mt Useful.

The mounted branch was yesterday also called in to help after heavy winds made the work of the Air Wing more difficult.

Police also had a water police and a boat on standby in Rawson where the search was based.

Picture of the Thomson Dam

The mounted branch has joined the search for the missing couple. Picture: Tamsin Rose

MISSING COUPLE ’S LOVED ONES JOINED SEARCH

Friends and family of the young couple this week joined emergency services to scour the area around the Thomson Dam in West Gippsland on Wednesday.

Efforts to find the missing couple were spread across thousands of kilometres of bushland.

Shannon’s mother Debbie Lowden on Wednesday remained hopeful she would find her daughter alive and well.

But the stress of the search and knowing her daughter has been out in the cold for five nights was keeping her up.

“My brain wouldn’t turn off,” she said. “It was very hard to try and get some sleep.”

Caleb Forbes.

Shannon Lowden.

Snowy conditions in the Thomson Dam and Walhalla area.

She said her daughter had spent some time in the outdoors as a child, but did not have much experience in recent years.

“They’ve been camping a couple of times before,” Ms Lowden said. “Shannon’s done a lot as a youngster.”

Her mother believed Shannon and Caleb had known each other for about six months.

“(Family members) are obviously concerned but hopeful,” Victoria Police Insp Shane Cashman said.

“The couple came up on Friday but the weather did turn pretty nasty over the weekend.”

Police swept through existing structures on Wednesday morning in the hopes of finding the pair sheltering from the cold but did not find anything.

“We’re covering all the tracks off road, camping grounds and huts,” Inspector Shane Cashman said yesterday.

Friends and family of two missing campers have joined the search.

The car the couple was travelling in.

Caleb Forbes with his 4WD.

“We’ve gone over all of the huts again this morning just in case our missing people took some cover overnight.

“We’ve also got specialist police resources who have the ability to go into some hard tracks and four-wheel driving.

“It’s a search area of over 1000 square kilometres that we have to cover and we’re widening it as we go through and clear areas.”

Members of Shannon’s footy team had come up to help search around the Thomson Dam alongside her parents.

SES rescuers prepare for another day of searching.

Family friend Jordan, 21, came to help out because he knew Caleb would have done the same for him.

“We’re helping out where we can,” he said. “We’ve grown up with him. We’ve got a good community.”

Bill Fermelis, a friend of Shannon’s uncle, drove in from Vermont South to lend his expertise.

He has extensive knowledge of the area and said the rugged alpine conditions were a concern.

An image of Forbes’ car, with the registration FQC 467.

SNOWY CONDITIONS COULD HAVE TRAPPED COUPLE

Police believe the couple’s car may have become bogged or trapped in the snow.

Snowy conditions have made searching more difficult.

Experienced members of the SES alpine search team told the Herald Sun even they were struggling to get around on Tuesday and were slipping around.

Police feared the young couple’s car could have driven off one of the high, icy tracks.

Mr Forbes, 22, was from Kilsyth and Ms Lowden, 21, was from Lilydale.

“We’re focusing on areas where their vehicle could have gone,” Insp Cashman said. “We’ve been searching all of the local roads, tracks and campgrounds.

Rescuers feared the campers’ car slipped off one of the icy, slippery tracks.

Search teams battled the elements as they search through a mixture of snow-covered country, dense bushland and burnt-out forest.

The region has experienced below zero conditions over the weekend.

Crews divided the large area around the Thomson Dam into a grid and are working through each area.

They left in a green 1994 Nissan Patrol wagon with registration plates FQC 467.

The alarm was raised when Mr Forbes did not turn up to work on Sunday.

Friend Jacob McGhee reached on to friends on Facebook to help search for the pair.

The alarm was raised on Sunday. Picture: Jo O'Doherty

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Police launched the search on Tuesday.

Local police, the Air Wing and SES teams are based out of Rawson.

Walhalla has an official population of just 20, but is surrounded by hills and forest, making it a popular spot for hikers and campers.