{"id":534496,"date":"2026-03-12T01:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T01:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534496\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T01:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T01:40:11","slug":"bodies-found-in-search-for-two-chinese-backpackers-missing-in-floodwater-at-kilkivan-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534496\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodies found in search for two Chinese backpackers missing in floodwater at Kilkivan, Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have recovered two bodies in a search for Chinese backpackers who went missing in floodwater in the Gympie region in Queensland.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were driving from Brisbane to the North Burnett region on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

They were reported missing when their silver Subaru Forester disappeared and the pair failed to reach their destination.<\/p>\n

Police, the SES and helicopters scoured an area from Kilkivan to Mundubbera on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The pair’s vehicle was discovered in floodwater on Kilkivan Tansey Road, near McArthur Road, on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The backpackers’ car was caught in floodwaters before being discovered on Wednesday afternoon. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Jessica Ross)<\/p>\n

Police confirmed on Thursday that two bodies, believed to be the Chinese nationals, were found inside the car.<\/p>\n

Police divers, the Forensic Crash Unit and forensic officers will attend the scene on Thursday morning to confirm the identities of the bodies.<\/p>\n

Mayor calls for education<\/p>\n

Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig said news of two deaths was an “absolute tragedy”.<\/p>\n

“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country \u2026 and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Glen<\/p>\n

Glen Hartwig says people should take extreme care on the roads. (ABC Sunshine Coast)<\/p>\n

“We’re very grateful that they chose to come and see our country and we’re so sorry for their loss and the pain that [family members] are now feeling.<\/p>\n

Cr Hartwig said more needed to be done to educate tourists about Australia’s unique threats.<\/p>\n

“We warn people about biosecurity when they come into the country, but I also think we need to warn them about the dangers of floodwaters,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Giving tourists an understanding that if it’s flooded, forget it \u2014 do not drive into any water that’s over the road.<\/p>\n

“Getting that message to tourists \u2026 is an essential thing the federal government should start to look at.<\/p>\n

“It’s just not possible to have enough people around to actually, you know, make sure that every creek crossing that is inundated with water has a sign in front of it.”<\/p>\n

Floodwaters recede in Bundaberg<\/p>\n

Major flood warnings remain in place across Queensland.<\/p>\n

The huge deluge in the Wide Bay region has cut roads and isolated communities, with flooding estimated to have affected hundreds of homes in Bundaberg.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Major flood warnings remain in place across Queensland. (Supplied: Cassandra Kirk)<\/p>\n

The Burnett River peaked above the major flood level at 7.4 metres on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

It has now receded to five metres, below the minor flood level, but the full extent of the flooding will likely not be known for days.<\/p>\n

The Queensland town of Chinchilla in the Western Downs, is also bracing for major flooding<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have recovered two bodies in a search for Chinese backpackers who went missing in floodwater in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,265248,265249,44,118075],"class_list":["post-534496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chinese-missing-floodwaters","tag-kilkivan-missing-in-car","tag-news","tag-queensland-floods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}