Holidaymakers have been warned to take extra care at beaches, rivers and lakes after 11 people died in Australian waterways since Christmas Day.
A man has drowned at Surfers Paradise beach in Queensland on Wednesday evening.
Police say initial reports suggest the man and a boy came into trouble in the water and were rescued by lifesavers, but paramedics were unable to revive the man.
A five-year-old girl in Victoria and a scuba diver in NSW were added to the tragic toll on Tuesday.
The girl died after disappearing in a lake at a popular holiday spot in Nagambie in central Victoria while out with family.
The scuba diver, aged in his 60s, was found unconscious in Lake Macquarie, south of Newcastle in NSW.
Alcohol is often a major contributor to holiday drownings, according to Royal Life Saving Australia chief executive Justin Scarr.
“Alcohol was a factor in more than a quarter of drowning deaths last summer so we’re asking everyone to stay off the beers until fishing, boating or swimming has finished,” he said.
“The days between Christmas and New Year’s Day are often the deadliest period for drowning.”
NSW Ambulance Inspector Kay Armstrong said rivers were extra dangerous at this time because of recent flooding.
“You’ve got a lot of undercurrents, you’ve got a lot of other debris in the water,” Ms Armstrong said on Wednesday.
“People need to be aware if they can’t see the bottom, I probably wouldn’t even enter the water.”
There’s been at least 10 drownings at coastal and inland waterways around Australia over the holiday period.
On Christmas Day, a 19-year-old man died at Lorne in Victoria’s southwest and a 36-year-old man in NSW drowned in the Hawkesbury River in northwestern Sydney.
On Boxing Day, a man in his 30s was found unresponsive in Lake Hume near the NSW-Victorian border, a 17-year-old boy died near Mordialloc in Melbourne’s south and a 73-year-old South Australian woman was found unresponsive in waters at Seacliff, south of Adelaide.
Two teenage girls died in a boating incident in Tamworth in northeastern NSW on Tuesday and body of a 33-year-old Taiwanese man was recovered from a lake near Collie in Western Australia.
Another man was missing from the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga as of Wednesday evening.
So far 16 people have drowned in Australia this summer, including six children, according to Royal Life Saving Australia. This tally precedes the drowning at Surfers Paradise on Wednesday.
