REMEMBER WHEN

AN APPARENTLY dead, elderly woman found washed up on a Gold Coast beach was taken by an undertaker to hospital where she was found to be alive.

During a day of bizarre events, police made a public appeal for assistance in identifying the mystery woman.

The drama started when a man found the woman at the high water mark on a beach off Oatland Esplanade, Anglers Paradise about 7am.

He thought she was dead and called the police.

They then called an undertaker and the body was taken to the hospital.

It was there that a doctor found a faint heartbeat.

The woman was treated in the emergency room and later transferred to the intensive care ward where she was reported to be still unconscious on a respirator and suffering from severe exposure.

The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Graham Thompson, said the woman’s condition was improving as she warmed up.

While the woman was being treated at the hospital, Southport police urged the public to come forward with information to help them identify her.

They described the woman as aged between 65 to 75, 170cm tall, with grey, men’s style hair. When found she was wearing two pairs of tracksuit pants, a blue-green cardigan, brown plastic sandals and a green beanie-type cap.

She was also wearing a wedding ring.

Police thought she may have been washed out to sea and spent the night in the water.

She was extremely cold and showed no obvious signs of life.