Friends left disturbing photo evidence on their phones before they vanished while hiking

On April 1, 2014 Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon set out on a hike which they would never return from, with eerie photos later discovered shedding tragic light on what may have happened to them.

Friends Kremers, 21, and Froon, 22, were loving their early 20s lives and had been planning what they hoped would be a memorable hiking trip around the jungle in Panama when they went missing over a decade ago.

They are believed to have gone for a hike through a forested area near the Baru volcano in Boquete, Panama, when they went missing.

Shortly after the pair had disappeared, officials found a backpack with their phones, camera, money and items of clothing washed up by the side of the Culebra river.

Adding further to the mystery, the phones had been 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.

Photos help shed light on mystery

On top of that, photos found on their camera helped map out would could have happened to the pair.

The pair went missing in 2014 (YouTube/ TVN2)

Some of the snaps discovered were almost completely dark and had clearly been taken at night.

Meanwhile, others show the women's belongings spread out on some rocks next to a plastic bag and wrappers, while another appeared to show the back of Kremers' head.

Theories emerge around Kremers and Froon's fate

Some have suggested the two young women had been involved in an accident and Kremers had died while trying to get help for herself and Froon.

This idea further emboldened when later that year fragments of bone belonging to the women were found.

One photo showed their strewn belongings (TVN2)

Some of the pictures had been taken at night (YouTube/ TVN2)

While Froon's bones seemed to have decomposed naturally, strangely Kremers' appeared to have been bleached - which came as a bit of a surprise to investigators working on the case.

Dutch authors Marja West and Jürgen Snoeren claimed that their book, Lost in The Jungle, solved the mystery.

Some have accused the police of botching the investigation at the time (YouTube)

West said: “Our conclusion had to be that it was an accident. It took us quite some time to get there.

“Once we had the files, we could understand where people outside the investigation got sidetracked and why.

"The police were inundated by tips, each had to be checked out, losing them valuable time. It became a hell of a job."

No official cause of death has been ruled due to lack of evidence.