Police have hailed a job well done to all emergency services involved in finding a 70-year-old woman who went missing for three days from a south Brisbane suburb — just in the nick of time.
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Hyungleeb Lee was found 100 metres east of the Gateway Motorway overpass near Compton Road at Kuraby, about two suburbs from her care facility in Calamvale, just before 9am on Saturday.
Police said they believed the gap to find her was closing due to the hot weather and Mrs Lee's existing health issues, and with the possibility of storms to hit Queensland on Saturday night.
She was found with a number of injuries and was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition after being found in bushland that was previously searched by police and State and Emergency Service teams.
She received a number of injuries from a possible fall and has been transported to hospital for treatment.
Concerns over her wellbeing sparked a hunt that was elevated on Friday to include 35 police and emergency services workers.
Police released vision of Mrs Lee crossing the driveway of the Liberty petrol station on 516 Compton Road, heading east about 12.30pm on Wednesday.
The Korean woman, who has dementia, was reported missing from the care facility on Chateau Street in Calamvale on Wednesday.
On Thursday, police were encouraging residents to search their backyards for the woman, and by evening a rescue helicopter was searching.
On Friday, police and emergency services workers were door-knocking local residents, checking CCTV, liaising with local Korean businesses and using all-terrain vehicles, trail bikes and mobile patrols.
On Saturday, Inspector Karl Hahne said the woman was found in a forestry area that was "quite isolated" and could not be seen from the main road and main tracks in the area of bushland.
"Mrs Lee was in a semi-conscious state, she was quite dehydrated," he said.
"She found it difficult to communicate to both QAS, QPS and SES officers but the family members were very quickly on the scene and they held grave concerns for her and the family arrived in numbers and helped us communicate."
Inspector Hahne said he was pleased with the collaborative effort with all emergency services and which helped provide a positive outcome.
"It was a great relief for the Korean community in this location, and her husband and direct family members were there to support her as she was taken to the PA hospital," he said.
Inspector Hahne said Mrs Lee appeared to have taken a fall or collapsed from exhaustion at the bottom of the gully.
"We were concerned today because we had reports the weather was going to get a little bit nasty with storms and we realised our window to find Mrs Lee was narrowing because of her existing health issues," he said.
"At this particular time when the SES crew was walking to their location, they just saw something out of the corner of their eye and I think probably because of the sun or something that was reflecting off her top, which was pink in colour.
"At other times of the day that area would have been in complete shade.
"Sometimes it's good luck that the light was right, someone saw something out of the corner of their eye and they investigated and luckily on this occasion Mrs Lee was found."
