Fourth Drowning in NSW as Spearfisher Dies on Remote South Coast Beach

A man has died after being pulled from the water on the New South Wales South Coast, marking the state’s fourth drowning since New Year’s Eve.

Emergency crews were called to Lobster Bay Beach in Shoalhaven around 12:40pm on Friday, where members of the public had dragged an unresponsive man from the surf. He is believed to have been in his fifties.

Surf lifesavers said the man had been spearfishing when he became entangled in a float line off the isolated beach near Currarong, south of Wollongong. NSW Ambulance paramedics and a rescue helicopter attended, and CPR was performed, but he could not be revived.

His death follows a string of tragedies along the NSW coastline. On Thursday, Berowra Heights mother Melissa Austin died at Dunbogan Beach on the Mid North Coast while trying to save her son from a rip. Earlier that same morning, a 25 year old woman drowned after being swept off rocks into a tidal pool at Maroubra Beach.

Authorities have also suspended searches for a 14 year old boy and a man who went missing off Palm Beach and Coogee Beach in Sydney.