A woman believed to be in her 40s has died after trying to rescue her teenage daughter while swimming near Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast.
NSW Police has confirmed to Surf Life Saving NSW that the woman had earlier attempted a rescue of her daughter just after 1pm today, Tuesday 19 March, at the unpatrolled Pebbly Beach in Murramarang National Park in Shoalhaven.
At approximately 1.13pm, the SLSNSW State Operations Centre was alerted to the incident and activated the Batemans Bay Emergency Call Out Team and the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter, with the Helicopter arriving to find a teenage girl on the shore and a member of the public supporting an unconscious female in the water.
The Helicopter winched the woman from the water with crewmen conducting CPR until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived.
The woman was declared deceased on scene while a teenage female continued to be treated by paramedics and is currently in a good condition.
Surf Life Saving NSW said that between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023, there were nine bystander drownings on the NSW coastline – being where a person drowns having initially entered the water in an attempt to rescue another person in distress.
This is the second such incident since 1 July 2023. The 10-year average is three.
Officers from the NSW South Coast Police District will prepare a report for the coroner.
