{"id":222087,"date":"2026-01-01T18:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222087\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T18:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:24:12","slug":"irish-man-35-found-dead-at-whitehaven-beach-among-three-deaths-on-australias-east-coast-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222087\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish man (35) found dead at Whitehaven beach among three deaths on Australia\u2019s east coast \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Irish man has died at Whitehaven beach near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia<\/a>, with two other people found dead and grave fears for two more after separate incidents in waters off Sydney during a tragic new year period.<\/p>\n

Queensland police said emergency services received reports that a 35-year-old Irish man had been found dead in the water at the popular beach in the state\u2019s north at about 11am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice will prepare a report for the coroner following a drowning incident in the Whitsundays yesterday,\u201d police said in a statement on Thursday, adding it would be inappropriate to comment further.<\/p>\n

A day after the man\u2019s death, a woman died after being swept into the ocean from a Sydney beach in the early hours of New Year\u2019s Day, amid warnings about dangerous surf conditions on the New South Wales coast.<\/p>\n

Police said emergency services were called to Maroubra beach in Sydney at about 4am on Thursday after reports a person had been swept out into the ocean.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old woman was hit by a wave, knocking her into a tidal rock pool before further waves swept her out to sea, NSW police were told.<\/p>\n

Police, including the air wing, and NSW Ambulance began a search and found the body of a woman at about 5am. The body was believed to be that of the missing woman<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a search was under way on Thursday morning for another swimmer believed to be missing in the water at Coogee.<\/p>\n

Just after 6am on Thursday emergency services were called to Coogee beach after reports a man \u2013 believed to be aged in his 20s \u2013 was in trouble in the water.<\/p>\n

Coogee Surf Life Saving Club president Ben Heenan said four people had decided to go for a morning swim at the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to large surf, they were swept out in a very big rip, swept off their feet,\u201d Mr Heenan said. \u201cThey tried to make their way back to shore and required assistance. An off-duty police officer and two off-duty surf lifesavers went in and provided that assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree of them were able to make it back to shore. Unfortunately, one was unable to return. We immediately commenced a search.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police, ambulance, surf life saving and council officers have joined the search.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a hazardous surf warning for much of the NSW coast, stretching from Byron to the Illawarra.<\/p>\n

Surf and swell conditions were expected to be hazardous on Thursday for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating, and swimming, the bureau said.<\/p>\n

The police marine area command said people should consider staying out of the water and avoid walking near surf-exposed areas.<\/p>\n

The incidents follow the death of a man in Sydney on New Year\u2019s Eve, after a dinghy capsized at Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

Two men and a 14-year-old boy were in the vessel when it overturned in rough conditions around Barrenjoey Headland about 11.35am.<\/p>\n

A man was pulled from the water by surf lifesavers and treated by paramedics, but he died at the scene.<\/p>\n

A second man was able to climb on to nearby rocks before he was winched to safety by a rescue helicopter and taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

A search for the missing boy was expected to continue on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Surf Lifesaving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said the past 24 hours had been \u201ca very horrific period in terms of drownings\u201d for NSW.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s on top of multiple mass rescues that were conducted yesterday by lifesavers and lifeguards right up the NSW coast,\u201d Pearce told 2GB radio on Thursday morning. – Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish man has died at Whitehaven beach near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, with two other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[986,93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-222087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}