Two children found alone on idyllic beach as mother’s body washes ashore and father is missing at sea after Australian snorkelling tragedy



Children, aged 10 and 13, alone on beach near Coral Bay, Western Australia

Their parents had set out in a dinghy for a snorkelling expedition

Body of a 41-year-old woman washed up on the beach near Ningaloo Reef

Her 48-year-old partner remains missing off coast of idyllic resort



Two young children were found alone on an Australian beach today after the body of their mother was washed ashore and their father remained missing.



The parents had set out in a dinghy for a snorkelling expedition off the coast of Western Australia, leaving the children, a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, on the beach.



Police said the tragedy occurred near the popular snorkelling region of Coral Bay, near the hamlet of Ningaloo Reef.

Idyllic: The body of a 41-year-old woman washed ashore close to the idyllic resort of Coral Bay in Western Australia (file photo)

Snorkelling accident: A woman's body was found washed up on the beach and her two children were found alone on the beach in Coral Bay, Western Australia

A man who had access to an emergency beacon set it off after the body of the 41-year-old woman washed up onto the beach at around 4pm (WST).



But there was no sign of her 48-year-old partner, who remains missing.

Neither the man nor the woman has been named.



The search for the man will resume at first light in Australia.



A team of police divers was preparing to leave Perth for Coral Bay, as police spoke of what they feared might become a double tragedy, leaving the young children orphaned.



Western Australian police spokesman Sam Dinnison said an emergency beacon was activated just south of Coral Bay during the afternoon.



'... The body of woman has washed up on the shore of the beach... we've also got reports that her husband may also be in the water' Police spokesman Sam Dinnison



'At this stage the body of a woman has washed up on the shore of the beach and it's been confirmed she is, in fact, deceased,' he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.



Mr Dinnison said police from the nearest big town, Exmouth, were heading to the area.



'We think the woman may have been snorkelling prior to this, but we're yet to confirm that 100 per cent.



'But we've also got reports that her husband may also be in the water, but we're not sure if he's injured or what the circumstances are there.'



Police said later that the woman's body had washed up on a beach some 30 miles south of Coral Bay.

Coral Bay woman's body found locator.jpg

The couple's two children are in the care of authorities in Western Australia.



A camper at the remote Warroora cattle station said he saw an emergency services four-wheel-drive vehicle with its lights activated escorting an ambulance across a dirt track towards the beach.

