The search for a missing man ended in tragedy after a body was recovered from a ute flipped upside down and submerged in a Gold Coast creek. T“Police have located a body inside a vehicle in Canungra Creek, near Lamington National Park Road, earlier today,” Queensland Police said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The body is believed to be that of a 38-year-old man who was reported missing from the Canungra area earlier this week. The body is thought to belong to David Horniman, 38, who was reported missing on Tuesday as rain pelted the Gold Coast.
“Police will prepare a report for the coroner.” On Monday, Mr. Hornman was last seen leaving home on Lamington National Park Road at about 6 am and was wearing business attire. He made no contact with his family after that time. In a separate tragedy in northwest Sydney, a man died after his car was trapped in floodwaters on Cattai Ridge Road in Glenorie just before 6.30 am on Wednesday.
Just before 11.30 am on Wednesday, a public member alerted police to the upturned vehicle, a white 2013 Isuzu D-Max. Detective Inspector Chris Laird said the 25-year-old man was a Pakistani national on the first day of a new contracting job. He had been on the phone with emergency services, and his vehicle was found just after 1 pm with his body inside. “We can only speculate that he may not have known the area as locals would … he may not have seen the water as he drove in given the fact that the gates across the road were completely submerged,” he told reporters. “Sadly, in hindsight, we can always say never drive into a swollen road, and that will form part of our inquiries.” Inspector Laird described the man’s death as an “absolute tragedy” and said it was a miracle no one else had been killed in Sydney’s catastrophic floods.
“We can only speculate again that, given what I have seen and the damage to the vehicle, it could very well be that the electrics failed and he was simply unable to escape from the car, which is an absolute tragedy,” he said. “Also, the fact that he was on the phone for so long is even more tragic and will form part of our inquiries about what happened in the car and why this tragic accident occurred. “You can only imagine somebody fighting for their life to get out of the car — that’s what the inside damage looked like.” Inspector Laird said there were no broken windows, and the man “clearly couldn’t get out.”
