Kingsford man drowns at Mollymook Beach

08.04.2010

POLICE will prepare a report
for the Coroner following the
downing death of a man on
Mollymook Beach earlier this
week.
The 36-year-old man from
Kingsford in Sydney drowned
at approximately 1.30pm on
Monday.
Police said he was swimming
with four other members of his
family at an area known as The
Reef - approximately halfway
along Mollymook Beach -
when he and his 12-year-old
son became caught in a rip.
The boy managed to swim to
shore but the man disappeared.
It is understood an off-duty
police officer went to the man's
aid.
He was located a short time
later and brought to shore
where surf life savers attempted
to resuscitate him until
paramedics arrived.
He was later pronounced
dead at Milton Hospital.
A 59-year-old male tourist
from Great Britain died on the
same day after being rescued
from the surf at Elouera Beach
near Cronulla in Sydney's
south.
A 43-year-old rock fisherman
from Yagoona drowned on
Sunday after being swept from
the rocks at Fishermans
Beach, Port Kembla.
The weekend drownings
have taken the number of
coastal drownings in NSW to
26 since July 1, 2009 and have
prompted a call from Surf Life
Saving NSW for people to heed
water safety warnings.
Monday's drowning took
place approximately one kilometre
north of the patrolled
area at Mollymook Beach and
was the second at the beach in
as many years.
Fifty-year-old Sydneysider
Jeffery Richmond drowned at
the northern end of
Mollymook Beach in
December 2008 after going to
the rescue of two of his sons
who were caught in a rip.
Surf life savers said at the
time there was a need for
increased awareness about
rips and what they do.