Six people have died in a horror toll of drownings across the Easter long weekend.
Six people have died in a horror toll of drownings across the Easter long weekend.
By Perry Duffin
April 20, 2025 — 1.36pm
A fisherman has died after a pair, including a teenager, were swept off rocks at a popular NSW beach, adding to a horror toll of drownings across the Easter long weekend.
Police were called to Wattamolla beach in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney, at 11am on Sunday after two people had been swept into the water while fishing on rocks.
“Officers from Sutherland Shire Police Area Command, PolAir, Marine Area Command, Surf Life Saving NSW and NSW Ambulance paramedics attended, and the two people were winched from the water,” NSW Police said in a statement.
One man died at the scene. He is yet to be formally identified.
A 14-year-old boy was taken to the Children’s Hospital at Randwick, where he remains in a stable condition.
The death means at least six people have lost their lives in the surf since Good Friday. Two more are missing.
Strong swell battered the east coast throughout the long weekend, causing dangerous conditions in the water along the NSW coast and into Victoria.
A body was located in the harbour off Middle Head Point in Mosman after emergency services were called to assist a man in the water about 10.20am on Friday. Police believe the man had been standing on rocks at the harbour’s edge when he fell into the water.
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Earlier on Friday, a 58-year-old fisherman died after being swept into the water in Wollongong Harbour overnight. Police believe the man was fishing on a rock wall nearby when he was swept into the water.
In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a multi-agency search operation started about 1pm after reports that a man was struggling in the water off Little Bay Beach. The search was later suspended.
Shortly after 3pm, the third fatality of the day was confirmed – a fisherman washed off rocks near Eden on NSW’s South Coast.
In Victoria, one woman died and another man went missing after being swept into the sea in San Remo, also on Friday.
On Saturday, a rock fisherman was swept into the sea at Kianinny Bay, near Tathra on the NSW South Coast, at 8.15am on Saturday. His body was found two hours later.
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The search for the man off Little Bay was resumed on Saturday, but was fruitless, and again on Sunday.
The weather bureau said swells on Easter Saturday were up to 3.5 metres high and that they would not ease until Sunday.
Calm returned to some beaches on Sunday. The Bureau of Meteorology cancelled its hazardous surf warnings for Byron, Coffs and Macquarie coasts at midnight on Sunday.
Marine wind warnings remained in place for the NSW South Coast.
Perry Duffin is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via Twitter or email.
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