Rescue teams still hope to find Australian woman, missing for two weeks

By Peter Mitchell

Canadian search and rescue teams are not giving up hope on finding missing Australian hiker Sophie Dowsley despite the discovery of her boyfriend's body in a beautiful but remote and treacherous region of Canada.

Searchers confirmed today that dive teams found Greg Tiffin's body in Statlu Lake, British Columbia. Grave fears are held for Dowsley.

"We'll keep searching until either we find her or we have searched everything we can possibly search," Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Corporal Mike Rail told AAP. "You never give up hope."

Tiffin, a 44-year-old Canadian, and Dowsley, 34, from Melbourne, set out for their day hike in the Mt Statlu Lake region on July 8 but four days later concerned family and friends alerted authorities.

Statlu Lake is about three hours drive east of Vancouver and is renowned for its beauty, although the wilderness is remote and the trail challenging for experienced hikers.

The waterfall has a history of deadly incidents.

Some of the searchers, which include divers, dogs and specialists from Kent Harrison Search and Rescue, had to be flown in on helicopters because of the terrain.

"It's really remote and demanding territory," Rail said. "It is gorgeous but not forgiving."

The search received a strong lead when the missing couple's Silverado ute was found near a hiking trail at Statlu Lake.

Dowsley had been living in Canada for about three years. Her family members immediately flew to Canada when they were alerted she was missing to help with the search.

"It's the worst possible nightmare that you could imagine," Dowsley's father, Peter, told Canada's CTV News. "I couldn't dream of anything worse."

-AAP