Emergency services have suspended separate searches for a teenage boy and a male swimmer in waters off Sydney amid a horror New Year period on Australian beaches.
On Sunday afternoon, New South Wales police said search and rescue operations had been suspended in the search for a 16-year-old boy who was a passenger in a boat that capsized off Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve. A 47-year-old man died in that incident.
A separate search for a 22-year-old man, who has been missing since last being seen in trouble in the water at Coogee beach on New Year’s Day, was also suspended.
The man has been identified as Sushan Khadka, and police said they have been unable to find him “despite extensive land and water-based searches”.
Coogee Surf Life Saving Club’s president, Ben Heenan, last week said several swimmers, including the man, had been swept off their feet and pulled out by a rip due to large surf.
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“Three of them were able to make it back to shore. Unfortunately, one was unable to return. We immediately commenced a search.”
In a statement announcing the suspension of the two searches, police said marine patrols would continue in the Palm Beach area and land patrols would continue around Coogee beach.
Sunday’s announcement follows the deaths of six people at beaches across Australia during the New Year period, including a 34-year-old man who drowned at Green Patch beach at Jervis Bay, on the NSW south coast, on Saturday.
Emergency services were called just before 5pm after reports multiple people were struggling to stay afloat in rough conditions. The 34-year-old was brought back to the beach where first responders attempted to resuscitate him, but was declared dead at the scene.
A Toll rescue helicopter arrives over Greenpatch / Iluka Beach, where a man died on Saturday. Photograph: Matthew Abbott/The Guardian
On Friday, police said a man believed to be aged in his 50s was pulled from the water at Lobster Bay beach in Shoalhaven. He was treated by paramedics, but died at the scene.
It came after a 25-year-old woman was found dead about 5am on New Year’s Day after being swept into the ocean at Maroubra beach amid warnings about dangerous surf conditions.
Hours later, a 45-year-old woman died at Dunbogan beach near Port Macquarie on NSW’s mid-north coast. Police said officers responded to reports the woman was struggling in the water before 3pm on New Year’s Day. She has been identified as mother-of-two Melissa Austin, who operated a salon in Berowra, north of Sydney.
A day earlier, a 35-year-old Irish man died at Whitehaven beach near the Great Barrier Reef after he was found unresponsive in the water about 11am on New Year’s Eve, Queensland police said.
In the Palm Beach incident, emergency services were called about 11.35am on New Year’s Eve, after reports a boat had capsized in the vicinity of Barrenjoey Headland. A 47-year-old man was pulled from the water by surf lifesavers and treated by paramedics, but died at the scene.
A second man, 45, was able to climb on to rocks where he was winched to safety by a Toll Ambulance helicopter. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A four-day search and rescue operation commenced for a third passenger, the 16-year-old boy, who was previously described by police as a 14-year-old.
Meanwhile, a search operation for a 32-year-old man reported missing while snorkelling on Thursday afternoon at Ledge Point beach, about 105km north of Perth, has been scaled back, the ABC reported.
Royal Lifesaving Australia has reported the national summer drowning toll since 1 December had reached 29 by Satuday.