Bits and Bites from Around the World > Snake-bit woman found alive after missing in Snowy Mountains

 

Woman missing in Australia's Snowy Mountains

found alive but injured

By Darryl Coote

Lovisa Sjoberg, 48, was found Sunday in Australia's Snowy Mountains, nearly two weeks after she was last seen and one week after she was reported missing. Photo courtesy of New South Wales Police/X

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A woman missing for almost two weeks in Australia's Snowy Mountains region was found alive Sunday, suffering from exposure and a snake bite, local authorities said.

Lovisa Sjoberg, 48, was reported missing Oct. 21 but was last seen driving her gray Mitsubishi Outlander at 7 a.m. local time on Oct. 15 in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, near the Victoria border. Authorities said the last time that anyone had spoken to her was Oct. 8.

New South Wales Police announced in a statement Sunday that Sjoberg had been located on the Nungar Creek Trail in Kosciuszko National Park at about 4:50 p.m. by a National Parks and Wildlife Service officer.

NSW Ambulance paramedics treated her for the snake bite and exposure at the scene before she was transported to Cooma District Hospital in a stable condition, NSW Police said.

Monaro Police District Superintendent Toby Lindsay told local media that she had been found "dazed and injured," informing responders that she was bitten by a copperhead snake four days earlier and had also rolled her ankle.

The search, launched Oct. 21, involved officers with the Monaro Police District along with various local and federal law enforcement agents, as well as members of the public.

"We had in excess of 30 people physically in the field every day searching," Lindsay said. "We held grave concerns for the missing woman, and very glad she's been found safe and reasonably well."

Lindsay added that Sjoberg was "very fortunate to be alive."

"She obviously went through a tough time."