An internal investigation will be launched into a disastrous inter-agency miscommunication that led Premier Chris Minns and senior authorities to declare missing Sydney teenager Lily Hooper alive, eight to ten minutes before her body was confirmed found in bushland.Senior leaders from the NSW Police Force and the State Emergency Service were facing intense pressure as they prepared to stand side-by-side at a 3pm press conference at Moss Vale Police Station to explain the devastating bungle.At the centre of the probe is a breakdown in communications between agencies working in the field, which led to a commonly-used SES code word – “half a bottle of water” – being misunderstood and then broadcast to the nation by Premier Minns. Police sources said an SES worker initially advised police that 18-year-old Lily had been found alive in Nattai National Park.NSW Police officers then relayed that unverified status update up through state command channels and directly to her family. The upcoming investigation will focus on the precise wording of the message passed from field crews to police, and why the report was treated as fact before rescue personnel had physically verified her condition.NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Joseph Cassar confirmed there was an “eight to ten minute” period where Lily’s parents believed their girl was alive after receiving incorrect information.Despite the agonising error, police sources are urging the public and media to keep the focus strictly on supporting Lily’s grieving parents, Jim and Kirrily, rather than laying blame on exhausted emergency workers who spent eight gruelling days battling freezing temperatures, rugged cliffs, and dense wilderness.Code word designed to shield family was broadcast to nationA police source told news.com.au: “Yes there was miscommunication and obviously that will be looked into. Someone said she was alive and we relayed it. “It’s a shame, this is a horrible tragedy that everyone across all agencies is devastated about.”The tragedy unfolded rapidly across Thursday morning after over a week of searching.Shortly after 11am search teams located a body deep in the national park. As incorrect advice that Lily was alive rippled outward, officers informed her parents that she had been found, though police were still working to determine her condition.By 12.11pm the unverified update reached Mr Minns via a passed note during a televised parliamentary hearing. Mr Minns said during the parliamentary hearing: “Lily Hooper has been found alive. Found in the bush with half a bottle of water with her.” SES sources told news.com.au references to water bottles can be used as a code to shield anxious family members waiting at search sites.“It tends to be agreed at a search between cops, who are the lead, and the searches, that terminology is used so as not to distress anyone who might be in ear shot,” a source said.“It could be a full bottle, meaning someone is alive, or a bottle found in tact, or a half full bottle or an empty bottle meaning someone is deceased.“We certainly don’t want to be saying things like ‘someone is found deceased’ over the airwaves.”Mr Minns’ public declaration that Lily had been found safe triggered statewide celebration and prompted her parents to share relief with reporters.The jubilation was shattered just before 1pm when Mr Minns retracted his statement and confirmed that Lily’s body had been found deceased. At 1.30pm the Premier issued a formal statement taking full responsibility and apologising for adding to the family’s heartbreak.‘Have you jumped the gun?’: Police hit backAddressing the media on Thursday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Cassar was grilled about the “eight to ten minute” gap where Lily’s parents thought their girl had been found alive.“If I could turn the clock back, I would certainly … I can’t provide a comment with regards to that. I don’t think it would be fair to the investigation,” he said.“I can tell you, the police that were in charge at the time that spoke to Lily’s mum and dad certainly hoped for a more positive outcome,” he added.“If we’re able to provide them more detailed information on that first report, I can tell you that would have been the case.“But unfortunately, it did take that small period of time for us to give them an update.”Assistant Commissioner Cassar rejected suggestions that police had jumped the gun in disseminating information.“It was an eight-day co-ordinated search. We are talking about hundreds of volunteer people, thick dense terrain, processes that we have adopted to engage family members to keep them informed every step of the way,” he said.“When we talk about very short window … I don’t believe we have jumped the gun but that will form information provided to the coroner.”He said police’s priority was “focused on getting Lily out of that dense terrain, and to reunite her with her family”.He stressed that the “thick, dense terrain” made it incredibly difficult for the volunteer SES workers in the national forest.“We’ve got hundreds of searchers out there, they’re all carrying handheld communication devices,” he said,“Sometimes the communication is a challenge.”Read related topics:Sydney