A 47- year-old woman has died after being pulled unconscious from the water by three teenage girls at Gordons Bay near Clovelly. The woman reportedly suffered a medical episode.
On the afternoon of 9 January 2023, three young women, all aged under 16, found a woman floating face down. They pulled her out of the water performed CPR on her.
Lifeguards quickly rushed to the scene and took over CPR but unfortunately were not able to revive the woman after 30 minutes and died at the scene.
Surf Life Saving‘s Ben Hennan said that the three teenagers did a fantastic job under the circumstances. He added that the location was difficult to navigate on foot, but lifeguards were able to respond quickly as they have access via water.
A witness said the police arrived at about 1.30 pm and rushed to pull the woman up from the water’s edge.
Another witness said that a stretcher was brought in along with defibrillators. They saw about 20 police officers and paramedics who scrambled across the rocks to reach the woman. They did CPR on her for about 20 minutes and then stopped. The beachgoers were then asked to get off the rocks.
The Gordons Bay incident is the eighth coastal drowning that has been recorded this summer and the 18th since 1 July 2022. It comes just days after an off-duty officer died at Bogola Beach near Narooma on New Year’s Day whilst trying to save his teenage son.
Over Christmas and New Year, NSW surf lifesavers performed 1,200 rescues, the highest ever recorded in the past five years. Likewise, in the last five years, lifesavers and lifeguards have performed more than 50,000 preventive actions and attended to 85 emergency incidents.
The public is reminded to swim only at a patrolled location and between the red and yellow flags. And when caught in a rip current, one has to stay calm, conserve energy, attract the attention of a lifeguard or a lifesaver, and wait to be rescued.
