Horrifying theories explain mystery behind friends who vanished while hiking and left disturbing evidence on phones

Despite vanishing over a decade ago, the disappearance of two dutch students has continued to spark a whole host of theories.

Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were 21 and 22 at the time of their disappearance back in April 2014 and had been planning a once in a lifetime hiking trip in Panama for many months before vanishing.

On April 1 at around 11.00am the pair are believed to have gone out for their hike through a forested area near the Baru volcano in Boquete, Panama but tragically, they never came home.

Following their disappearance, authorities launched a massive search operation to find the friends. However, this proved unfruitful and resulted in more questions than answers.

But 10 weeks later, there was a major breakthrough in the case when a backpack with their phones, camera, money and items of clothing washed up by the side of the Culebra river.

Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon went missing after heading off on a hike in the jungle in Panama (YouTube)

The phones had remained working for some time after their disappearance, with police discovering the two friends had made a total of 77 calls to emergency services, to no avail, before the phones died days later on April 11.

A series of photos taken on April 8 - several days after they went missing - were also discovered on the camera, including a number which were almost completely dark and had clearly been taken at night as well as one which is believed to be the back of Kremers’ head.

The case took another tragic turn however when two months later, a pelvic bone was found as well as a foot still inside a walking boot. DNA tests were able to confirm that the remains belonged to Kremers and Froon.

Strangely, while Froon's bones seemed to have decomposed naturally, Kremers' appeared to have been bleached due to their stark white appearance.

However there was not enough evidence for authorities to confirm their cause of death.

One of the pictures showed their belongings laid out (TVN2)

What exactly happened to the two women has continued to spark debate on social media, with many people filling in the gaps by offering their own suggestions as to the fate of the two friends.

But it is important to note these alternative theories don't offer any evidence and have not been confirmed by authorities.

Several of the pictures had been taken at night (TVN2)

People have accused police of initially botching the investigation into the women's disappearance (YouTube)

On a post discussing the disappearance, a user wrote: "Central/South America is extremely dangerous for tourists, especially for white non-Spanish speakers.

“It's incredibly stupid to leave tourist zones down there. They could've died in an accident, or they may have been butchered alive. It's honestly 50/50.

"It could have been something as simple as seeing a perfect photo spot a little ways off the trail and not thinking it would be a big deal to head over there," another added.

A third wrote: "I do think it was misadventure- it's so sad and I really feel bad for their families.

“I remember when this first happened there was discussion about the signage being insufficient to warn anyone that you are going off trail if you hiked past the peak.

"Obviously, after having two tourists die, you better bet that there are gonna be all new warning signs all over the place."

UNILAD has contacted the Boquete police for comment.