The desperate search for a missing father and son searching the remote outback has ended in tragedy.
James Dempsey, 33, and his 66-year-old father Ray were found in the remote outback of Western Australia, around the Polelle pastoral station, about 60 kilometers south of Meekatharra.
The pair were reported missing on Saturday when police were notified by a station employee that they had not returned to their campsite since Friday morning.
A massive land and air search was launched, using aircraft, helicopters, drones and highly trained tactical response group trackers.
Temperatures in Meekatharra rose above 40 degrees Celsius this weekend.
James Dempsey, 33, and his 66-year-old father Ray were found in the remote outback of Western Australia, around the Polelle pastoral station, about 60km south of Meekatharra (father and son are pictured together)
Temperatures in Meekatharra (pictured) rose above 40 degrees Celsius this weekend
“The deaths are being treated as non-suspicious and a report will be prepared for the coroner,” a WA police spokesperson said.
In August 2021, 83-year-old Trevor McDonald also went missing while canvassing near Meekatharra.
His wife raised the alarm when he did not return to their caravan.
His body was never found.
WA’s most high-profile missing gold miners case was the disappearance of a married couple near Sandstone in March 2015.
Jennie, 49, and Raymond Kehlet, 47, were last seen near the town of Sandstone, about 700 kilometers northeast of Perth, in March 2015 after setting out with friend Graham Milne to find gold during a ten day camping trip.
But police launched an intensive search after the couple’s dog turned up unaccompanied at the Sandstone caravan park nine days later.
Three weeks later, a gruesome discovery was made as Mr. Kehlet was decomposing body was found at the bottom of an abandoned 40-foot mine shaft.
Mrs. Kehlet’s body was never found.