Search called off for German hiker missing in Australian outback

The search for a German hiker missing in the Australian wilderness for almost two weeks has been called off, police announced Sunday.Monika Billen, 62, has not been seen since leaving her hotel in Alice Springs to go buswalking on New Years Day.She was not reported missing until January 8, and despite an intense air and land search has not been found.Northern Territory police said they had exhausted all possibilities after five days of searching using helicopters, drones, vehicles, motorbikes and horses.Temperatures in central Australia reached 43.5 degrees Celsius and were consistently over 40 degrees for much of the last fortnight."In the past five days NT police have covered vast tracks of land via aerial and land searches," Superintendent Pauline Vicary said in a statement."Unfortunately, despite our efforts no further evidence has been found to indicate Monika is still out there."Billen failed to check out of her hotel on January 5 and missed a scheduled flight to Darwin.Despite vanishing without trace, police do not believe her disappearance is suspicious.