The wife and mother of a man who drowned trying to cross a flooded Queensland creek left a series of heartbreaking messages on Facebook trying to find him.
David Hornman’s body was found in his upturned ute in Canungra Creek near Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast Hinterland on Wednesday.
‘Please, if you see him or the vehicle, let me know,’ wife Angela Hornman, wrote on Facebook before he was located.
In Queensland a desperate search for David Hornman, 38, ended when his body was found inside his ute in the Gold Coast Hinterland on Wednesday afternoon
David Hornman’s body was recovered from flooded Canungra Creek on Wednesday
‘Or at least tell him please to contact someone so I know he’s safe … Please tell him no matter what I LOVE HIM,’ she wrote.
‘Please don’t let this go cold,’ she wrote in another post. ‘Please keep looking and sharing and PLEASE let either me or police know ANYTHING – even if you think it’s nothing, it might be something’.
On Tuesday she began to panic when he didn’t turn up to work, pleading for any information that might help.
Mr Hornman’s distraught mother also used Facebook to try and enlist help finding her son.
David Hornman’s mother left several heartbreaking messages on Facebook (including the one pictured) before and after her son was found drowned in flooded Canungra Creek
One of the heartbreaking messages left on Facebook by Mr Hornman’s mother
‘He didn’t turn up to work and hasn’t been able to be reached since. His phone is turned off,’ Angela Hornman also wrote.
The 38-year-old father was last seen on Monday and had not contacted his family since heading to a job in the Tamborine area, where torrential rain caused flash flooding.
Police are investigating Mr Hornman’s death, but it is believed he died after attempting to cross the flooded creek and they appealed for help from the public.
‘Police are interested in obtaining vision of the weather conditions in the area particularly near Coburg Road causeway between 5am and 7am on March 22 as well as any vision capturing a white Isuzu utility heading down Coburg Road towards Canungra within those times,’ detectives said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Hornman is the second person to drown in the New South Wales and Queensland flooding disaster.
SES try to retrieve Mr Hornman’s submerged vehicle from flooded Canungra Creek
Mr Hornman’s shocked mother posted this message on Facebook after her son’s body was recovered
Pakistani national Ayaz Younas was on his first day of a new contracting job when his Toyota Camry became trapped in the flood on Cattai Ridge Road in Glenorie on Sydney’s northern outskirts.
Mr Younas spent a desperate 39 minutes on the phone with emergency services before drowning in his car in New South Wales floodwaters.
The inside of the 25-year-old’s car was badly damaged, indicating to police that he frantically battled to save his life and escape as waters rose around him.
NSW Police Detective Inspector Chris Laird said Mr Younas called Triple-Zero at 6.25am on Wednesday and remained on the line with the operator until about 7am.
Pakistani national Ayaz Younas’ Toyota Camry became trapped in the flood on Cattai Ridge Road in Glenorie on Sydney’s northern outskirts
Mr Younas called Triple-Zero at 6.25am on Wednesday and remained on the line with the operator until about 7am
‘Had he not rung us, we never would have found him. Not until the water receded anyway,’ Det Insp Laird said.
‘But we can only speculate that given what I have seen and the damage to the vehicle that it could very well be that the electrics totally failed, and he was simply unable to escape from the car which is an absolute tragedy.
‘You can only just imagine somebody fighting for their life to get out of the car — that’s what the inside damage of the vehicle looked like.’
Det Insp Laird said Mr Younas ‘clearly couldn’t get out’ of the car as there were no broken windows.
He said the roads had multiple signs and closure warnings, yet the car was located 30m into floodwaters and 6m under water.
Emergency crews were called to Cattai Ridge Road, near Hidden Valley Lane in Glenorie at about 6.30am on Wednesday, following reports a car was submerged in floodwaters
Emergency crews recovered Mr Younas’ body at 1pm after locating his submerged car.
Detective Inspector Laird suggested there would be investigations into why Mr Younas was in the area.
‘The remote location of the area, (we’ll ask) questions about what he was doing up there. He may not have known the area as locals would,’ he said.
There was also a padlocked gate blocking off the road, but it was submerged.
The Pakistani Community of Australia said it had spoken to Mr Younas’ father.
Community leader Farhat Jaffri said Mr Younas’ heartbroken family requested that his body be sent back to Karachi in southern Pakistan.
Mr Younas, who has two elder brothers and one younger sister, was from Malir Cantt in Karachi and studied software engineering.
Shazbaz Muhammad said Mr Younas was a ‘dear friend’.
‘Please pray for the departed soul,’ Mr Muhammad said.
Det Insp Laird said the 25-year-old had strong roots in western Sydney, and that his friends in Australia were devastated by the news.
‘From the police force, all emergency services, here is the very reason why you should not make any attempt to drive through swollen rivers,’ he said.
Emergency Services Minister David Elliott offered his condolences, saying it would send ripples through the northwest Sydney community.
Police divers are seen searching Cattai Creek on Wednesday, following reports a car was submerged in floodwaters
A police officer is seen in Glenorie after a man’s body was discovered in a car in Sydney’s north-west
‘The human cost of these floods has been brought into sharp focus in the most tragic of circumstances and I urge communities to continue to be cautious in the face of continued and imminent threats to life,’ Mr Elliott said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese also made statements in federal parliament about the tragedy.
Mr Morrison labelled Wednesday a ‘terribly sad day’, saying he knew the area well from childhood camping trips and felt for the man’s family.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was still extreme danger in flood-hit areas despite the clear weather in Sydney on Wednesday.
‘Whilst the sun is out conditions remain extremely dangerous, rivers are still rising,’ she said.
Police boats head out on to floodwaters to deliver basic supplies donated by Coles to stranded locals in the Windsor region on Wednesday
‘We ask everybody, especially if they are in vehicles to be extra cautious.
‘Some would suggest it is even more dangerous now as rivers continue to rise and catchments fill up with water.’
SES volunteers and NSW Police begin delivering food, medicine and essential items and inspecting properties inundated but floodwaters around Windsor in the north west of Sydney
The Windsor Bridge is seen submerged under rising floodwaters along the Hawkesbury River on Thursday