Delays in responding to the disappearance of Britt Lapthorne in Croatia could have cost her her life, a travelling friend says, and believes an inquiry is warranted.
Tara Reynolds said it took the Australian government five days to tell the Lapthorne family that Croatian authorities had reported her missing.
"It's those kind of actions early on that could have cost this girl's life," she told ABC Radio today from London.
"It warrants a big inquiry. I don't know how that will all pan out in the future. But it's disgusting. Who knows if anything was taken up earlier we could have had a different outcome."
Ms Reynolds, who travelled with Ms Lapthorne in Europe, also said she did not understand why police had not revealed what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
This follows reports of the discovery of Slovenia-labelled shorts on the side of a secluded road.
"I don't know why the police haven't announced what she was wearing so they must be still looking. I hope they are. And I can't trust them so I don't know," she said.
"I just wasn't 100 per cent sure that they were doing everything they could."
Ms Lapthorne was last seen at a Dubrovnik nightclub in the early hours of September 18.
DNA last week identified a body found floating off the city was Ms Lapthorne.
Detectives in Dubrovnik reportedly have interviewed 340 witnesses from the nightclub, among them some who saw Ms Lapthorne leave at 3.30am on the morning of September 18.
One of the witnesses was a Croatian girl who saw Ms Lapthorne laughing and dancing with an English-speaking man for most of the evening and right up to the time she departed, ABC reported.
Police also want to talk to another three travellers.
