An eight-year-old boy watched his father drown as strangers attempted to save him on a crowded beach 90 km north of Sydney on Saturday afternoon.
Beachgoers pulled the man in his 30s out of the water after spotting him unresponsive 50 metres from the shore at Ettalong Beach on NSW’s Central Coast.
Passers-by on jet skis helped pull him onto a nearby Maritime Rescue boat but he was unable to be revived.
A father in his 30s has drowned in front of his eight-year-old son at Ettalong Beach on the NSW Central Coast on Saturday afternoon
One witness said that people on jet skis raced out to try to help the man as soon as the bystanders realised that something was wrong.
‘They boys tried to help him out, lift him on, they did everything they could,’ one man said.
‘It was pretty bad, he was lying face-down in the water so I don’t know what happened. His son was screaming.’
Another witness said that it was hard to tell what was happening at first because of all the screaming which caused him to think that there was a shark in the water.
Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steve Pearce said CPR was performed on the man by Maritime Services and ambulance paramedics but that he could not be revived.
The boy’s stepmother has since come to the beach to pick him up and take him to Gosford Hospital, Nine News reported.
This was the second incident on the same stretch of the unpatrolled beach in 10 days after a man who drowned at Umina Beach on Christmas Day.
‘This is devastating news for the men’s families and the local community between Umina and Ettalong, with two deaths in as many weeks,’ Mr Pearce said.
‘They need time to reflect on these events and grieve the loss of loved ones. We ask the media to give them privacy during this tragic time.’
It is the ninth confirmed coastal drowning and the 42nd death in total on n beaches this summer.
Despite the help of other beachgoers who pulled the man from the water, witnesses said the un-named victim had drowned before anyone could reach him