Rescue teams have found a man’s body in the water of a popular Sydney beach during a search for a teenager who went missing from the swimming spot more than 12 hours earlier.
Police were on Sunday working to formally identify the body. At the same time, they were liaising with the family of the 18-year-old who went missing from Freshwater beach on Sydney’s northern beaches on Saturday evening.
The teenager was swimming with two other male friends when they lost sight of him, at which point they returned to shore and contacted emergency services.
“About 8.15pm [Saturday 4 March 2023], emergency services were called to Freshwater beach, after reports an 18-year-old man had gone missing while swimming,” a police spokesperson said.
Local police, surf lifesavers, marine rescue, police helicopters and the Toll Ambulance rescue helicopter commenced an “extensive search operation of the beach and surrounding area”, from North Curl Curl headland to Bluefish Point, and further out to sea.
Marine rescue vessels continued to patrol the water overnight, while police searched from the beach.
The search effort resumed early on Sunday morning, with teams recovering a body at 9.25am in the water off Freshwater beach.
“While the body is yet to be formally identified, police are liaising with the missing man’s family,” a police spokesperson said.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
A man’s body has been found at a lake in Melbourne’s outer east, in the latest apparent case of a paddle-boarding misadventure.
The 38-year-old man from Clayton was reported missing after taking to the water at Lysterfield Lake on Saturday afternoon. Passersby last saw him just after 2.30pm and police believe he was using a paddle board.
The police air wing, water police, search and rescue divers and State Emergency Service searched the lake and found the man’s body just before 9pm last night. His death is not being treated as suspicious.
It comes after four teenagers survived after being swept from one side of Port Phillip Bay to the other on two inflatable paddle boards in December. Another two paddle boarders were rescued in the area the next day.
