An Australian who vanished while hiking in bear country in Canada has been confirmed dead.
Queensland woman Julia-Mary Lane, known as JM, was last seen setting off on a bushwalk on Saturday afternoon.
Her brother Conor Lane has confirmed that she was found dead after what the family believes was “an unfortunate hiking accident”.
“We have lost our beautiful baby girl,” he wrote in a post to Facebook on Wednesday morning.
“Please allow us 24 hours to process this sad news.
“Thank you to the community for your rapid response and immense support.”
Ms Lane set off for a walk on the Bear Lake Trail near the town of Kimberley, 870km east of Vancouver, but did not return home.
Her housemate Janet Hamilton raised the alarm, contacting her family and posting on social media, sparking the mass search.
“I haven’t seen my young Australian housemate, JM, since Saturday afternoon and I’m wondering if anyone ran across her while hiking?” she said on Facebook.
“I just spoke to her family in Australia and they are all very worried. Disappearing like this is completely out of character for JM.”
Ms Hamilton thanked the local community for coming together to help search for the young Australian.
“Thank you everyone in this wonderful community for all your help and support over the past two days in the search for Julia-Mary,” she said.
“I feel honoured to have spent time with her this past week, as she was a joy to be around. A truly beautiful soul.
“They are normally in contact with her daily and have not heard from her since Saturday morning.”
Just days before her disappearance, Ms Lane posted on a local Facebook page asking if she could join other hikers to avoid trouble on the trail.
“Hi all, I’m visiting from Canmore for a few days and would love to join any moderate to challenging hikes anyone has planned,” she said.
“I am comfortable hiking solo but would prefer to go with a group to minimise bear risk, of course.”
Ms Hamilton said Ms Lane had left the home they shared in her Ford Escape, which police have since found.
Her brother confirmed that her car was found at Bear Lake and police are scouring the area.
“Please reach out and let me know if you have seen her or have any info about where she might be or was planning on going,” Mr Lane said on social media.
The 24-year-old Brisbane local had been living in Canada since the start of the year and had been travelling through British Columbia.
According to Ms Hamilton, Ms Lane was only spending a week in the Kimberley area to go hiking.