Sad update in search for popular bartender swept out to sea on New Year's Day - as man dies in horror spearfishing accident in Shoalhaven
A spearfisher has died after becoming tangled in a float line at a remote beach, in the latest drowning tragedy to rock Australia this summer.
Search efforts for three people swept away in Australian waters have been called off as family and friends come to terms with the devastating loss of their loved ones.
Emergency crews rushed to Coogee Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs about 6am on Thursday after reports a young man had become caught in a rip.
TV cameras captured the powerful moment Police Constable Lucas Matthews charged into the surf in his full uniform, clutching a flotation device in a bid to assist two off-duty lifesavers who were also trying to reach the man.
However, the man vanished just minutes after their rescue efforts began. Two days later, the search was suspended.
The swimmer was identified on Saturday as Nepalese national and Coogee Pavilion bartender Sushan Khadka, The Daily Telegraph reports.
He had moved to Sydney four years ago and was studying as well as working.
'I will miss everything about you,' one of Mr Khadka's friends wrote on social media.
'Rest peacefully, I love you.'
Nepalese national and Coogee Pavilion employee Sushan Khadka (pictured) has been identified as the man who was swept out to sea at Coogee Beach on Thursday
The search for him was suspended by authorities on Saturday
A community is also grieving the loss of business owner and beloved mother-of-two Melissa Austin (pictured with her partner Joel) from Berowra Heights
It comes as hopes are fading for a 14-year-old boy who was swept into heavy swell when the dinghy he was in capsized on New Year's Eve.
The teen and two other men were in the vessel when it overturned in rough conditions near Barrenjoey Headland on Sydney's northern beaches about 11.35am.
A man was pulled from the water by surf lifesavers but died at the scene. A second man was winched to safety by helicopter.
A large-scale search for the teenager was suspended on Saturday morning.
A snorkeler is also feared dead after vanishing off Ledge Point Beach, more than 100km north of Perth, on Thursday afternoon.
Police divers became involved in the search but by Friday evening, with no sign of the 32-year-old man, the search was scaled back.
The search efforts come amid a horror run of five drownings since New Year's Eve.
Beloved mother-of-two Melissa Austin was recovered from the surf at Dunbogan Beach on the NSW Mid North coast on Thursday.
She was pulled from the water off Dunbogan Beach on the NSW mid north coast on Thursday