Australia: Two dead after drowning in two separate incidents
Sydney, Dec 30 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) Two men have died after falling in separate incidents at waterholes in the northeastern Australian state of Queensland.
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) said in a statement that emergency services responded to reports an 18-year-old man had fallen about 15 metres down an embankment of a river in Maudsland, 55 km south of Brisbane, at 6:40 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Paramedics rendered medical assistance but the QPS said the man succumbed to his injuries and was declared deceased at the scene, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Monday that the 18-year-old was using a rope swing from a rock embankment when he fell.
Hours earlier, a 55-year-old man died after he slipped and fell 30 metres from a waterfall in the Behana Gorge, over 1,300 km northwest of Brisbane.
The QPS said that emergency services were called to Clamshell Falls, a popular swimming hole in the gorge, at 1:30 p.m. after the man was reported missing in the water.
He was located about an hour later following a search and rescue operation.
“Medical assistance was rendered at the scene. However, the man was declared deceased,” a police statement said.
The QPS said that both deaths are being treated as non-suspicious and that reports would be prepared for the coroner.
Earlier on Sunday, two people drowned at a notorious dangerous beach on Australia’s southwest coast, police in Western Australia (WA) said.
Three people were swimming at Conspicuous Cliff Beach, 355 km south of the state capital of Perth, on Saturday when they became caught in a dangerous current at about 2:40 p.m. local time.
The trio were pulled unconscious from the water by members of the public before police officers arrived at the scene and commenced CPR.
A 44-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman could not be revived and were declared dead at the scene. A 42-year-old man was resuscitated and taken to a nearby hospital.
“All three adults are known to each other and were visiting from the Perth area,” police said in a statement.
The beach is located on WA’s south coast — an area renowned for strong seas and large, unpredictable waves — and is not patrolled by lifesavers.
