The bodies of two women have been recovered from the Victorian high country after they died in "blizzard conditions", police have said. The women were found by hikers near a remote hut at Nelse, about 400km north-east of Melbourne, on Friday afternoon.
Inspector Paul Hargreaves said temperatures in the area had dropped to -2.8 degrees Celsius, with winds of 83km/h and snow falling in the three days before the discovery. "They are exceptionally hard conditions, blizzard conditions you would call them, and it's likely those two people have succumbed to those weather conditions, causing severe hypothermia leading to their death," he told media on Saturday.
Police are still working to identify the women, believed to be in their 20s or 30s, and are appealing for information from the public. Mr Hargreaves said the women may have been there for "two or three days" and might not have been prepared for the weather they encountered. He urged anyone who saw two women appearing "disoriented" or "not dressed adequately" earlier this week to contact Crime Stoppers.
The deaths are not being treated as suspicious. Police were called after two hikers found the bodies near Cleve Cole hut at about 12.50pm on Friday. Due to the isolated location and conditions, officers camped at the scene overnight. Police are not aware of any current missing person reports matching the women's descriptions.
Mr Hargreaves warned that conditions around Mount Bogong, Victoria's highest peak, can become treacherous quickly. In a separate incident, Tasmanian police confirmed that a 49-year-old woman from southern Tasmania drowned on Thursday afternoon after her raft flipped on the Franklin River, with 11 others rescued from the wilderness area.
