A Canadian backpacker, who was found dead on an Australian beach surrounded by a pack of dingoes earlier this week, likely died of drowning, an autopsy has found.
Piper James, 19, had “physical evidence consistent with drowning” and “injuries consistent with a dingo bite”, a spokesman for the Coroners Court of Queensland told BBC news.
“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks” are unlikely to have caused his “immediate death”, the spokesman added. An autopsy is part of the preliminary investigation, and establishing his exact cause of death could take several weeks.
Piper’s body found on the beach of K’Garian island in the eastern state of Queensland on Monday.
In a statement to the BBC, the coroner also said there were “numerous post-mortem dingo bite marks” and there was no evidence that anyone was involved.
Piper’s father, Todd James, told Australia’s 9News that the family felt relieved, because the autopsy results meant her body could be released back to her family in Canada.
His mother Angela told Global News that her daughter always dreamed of traveling and saved money for this trip after she graduated from high school.
Both parents have concerns about her traveling at her age, but Piper is determined.
The teenager has been working at a backpacker’s hostel for the past six weeks, and told his friends he was going for a 05:00 a.m. swim on Monday, Australian media reported.
His body was found around 06:30 local time (20:30 GMT on Sunday).
He was found near the Maheno shipwreck, which washed ashore in 1935 and is now a popular tourist landmark.
The area is known for its population of dingoes, a wild species of native dog protected in Queensland’s national parks.
About 200 dingoes live in the World Heritage-listed K’Gari, according to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.