A nine -year -old boy caught between rocks on the beach of New South Wales on Sunday has become the seventh man who drowned in Australia on the Easter weekend.
The greater part of the deaths are caused by strong swelling, washing people in the ocean of rocks. Two people remain disappeared.
Stephen Pierce, CEO of Surf Live Saving in New South Wales, where most victims happened, told ABC that it was the “worst” regime of drowning the record for the Easter long weekend.
“It was just terrible over the weekend that should be joyful and religious,” Pierce told Sydney Morning Herald.
Emergency teams managed to extract the boy in the southwestern rocks, about 400 kilometers north of Sydney, but he died at the scene.
Earlier on Sunday, a helicopter noticed a father and son floating in the water near Wattamolla beach, south of Sydney. The 14-year-old son was resuscitated, but later the father was declared dead.
Meanwhile, Victoria police are still looking for a 41-year-old man who disappeared near San Remo on Friday.
Surf Live Saving New South Wales said he had done more than 150 rescuers on Friday.
G -n Pierce said that the “perfect combination” of high temperatures, the holiday weekend and the dangerous ocean swells in much of New South Wales and Victoria caused the spike at death.
Although the conditions are improving on Monday, authorities are calling on those who visit the coastline to show caution.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed sympathy for the victims' families. “Please, everyone, be careful. Moreover families, be careful for your children,” he said.
According to Royal Life Saving Australia, 323 people drowned throughout the country during the year until June 2024.
This figure includes those killed in rivers and rivers, as well as on the beaches. Nearly 40% of deaths have been registered in New South Wales.