Two British tourists have downed off the coast of Australia after they were swept out to sea near the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday.
A 46-year-old man and a boy, 17, were swimming off Round Hill Head at Seventeen Seventy, just north of Agnes Water, yesterday afternoon.
They got into trouble around 2.15pm local time, when emergency services were called.
Each were dead by the point a helicopter pulled them from the water.
They’ve been confirmed as UK residents on holiday in the realm, police said. Their identities haven’t yet been confirmed, but they’re understood to have been father and son.
It will not be yet clear whether their family has been informed.
The beach where they were swimming, near the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, will not be monitored by life guards.
A 3rd person – a 37-year-old from Queensland – suffered life-threatening head injuries.
‘We’re unsure whether the third person jumped into the water attempting to perform a rescue’, said Darren Everard, the local operations manager for Surf Life Saving Queensland.
He called the drownings an ‘absolute tragedy’, ABC reports.
CapRescue said: ‘Multiple crews were tasked to the scene, including CapRescue.
‘Despite the very best efforts of all involved, two people tragically lost their lives. One patient was transported by air to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a life-threatening condition.
‘Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this heartbreaking incident.’
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