Phone found during renewed search for missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer
Private investigator Ken Gamble holds the phone found on Saturday. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)
In short:
Belgian tourist Celine Cremer went missing in wilderness in Tasmania's north-west in June 2023.
A volunteer in a private search party found a mobile phone on Saturday that Tasmania Police confirmed was Ms Cremer's.
What's next?
The search started on Saturday and is expected to run for five days.
A mobile phone belonging to missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer has been found in a fresh search for the 31-year-old.
It has been two and a half years since Ms Cremer disappeared from a walking trail near Philosopher Falls, just outside Waratah in Tasmania's north-west.
Four of Ms Cremer's friends have travelled from Belgium to join the renewed search, which started on Saturday and is being led by private investigator Ken Gamble.
Belgian tourist Celine Cremer went missing in Tasmania two and a half years ago. (Supplied: Tasmania Police)
Volunteer Tony Hage said he was at the rear of the search line when he spotted a mauve-coloured Samsung.
"I just melted," he said.
"I couldn't talk. I just could not talk.
"I was waving to the outside or the eastern side boundary man and he didn't know what I was doing and then I got a little bit more aggressive with my hand signals to bring him over, and then he realised."
Tony Hage (left) said he was lost for words when he found the device. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)
Mr Hage said the phone was quickly verified by the group as Ms Cremer's via the serial number.
Ms Cremer's Belgian friends also recognised it by its colour, he said.
"You could see they were delighted something was positively found," Mr Hage said.
"Everyone has high spirits now.
"There was a lot of information going backwards and forwards to Belgium — and her mother knows now, too."
He said it appeared Ms Cremer had dropped the phone, which was 60 metres away from her last recorded coordinates.
The phone was found on the first day of the search. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)
Mr Hage said the searchers took a long break after finding the phone before continuing and heading south-east.
Police were told immediately after the discovery and were "attending the scene".
Police said the phone would now undergo forensic examination, and that a police search controller was working closely with the private search party to ensure any discoveries were managed appropriately.
Ms Cremer's white Honda CRV was found at the head of a track to Philosopher Falls about a week after she was last seen.