It has been the worst Easter long weekend for coastal drownings on record in New South Wales, after another death early Easter Sunday. This morning, a father died after being swept off rocks in Sydney’s south while his 14-year-old son was taken to hospital. It is the fifth drowning in just three days, prompting a desperate plea from authorities.
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00:00A sunny Easter long weekend has seen hundreds of thousands flock to New South Wales shorelines.
00:09But combined with deadly surf, it's resulted in one tragedy after another.
00:17For such a religious weekend, this has been absolutely horrific.
00:21This morning, a father and son were swept off rocks while fishing at Guatemala in Sydney's Royal National Park.
00:28The father couldn't be revived.
00:31His 14-year-old son was taken to hospital but has since been released.
00:36It's the fifth coastal drowning in the state since Thursday.
00:41It would be the worst Easter drowning toll that we have seen in New South Wales on our records.
00:47All those killed have been people washed off rock shelves.
00:50And while a warning for hazardous surf conditions was cancelled this morning,
00:55emergency responders haven't seen much reprieve.
00:59We've done over 150 rescues alone.
01:0250 of those have just been today.
01:05From surfers caught in dangerous rips to large waves catching rockfishers by surprise.
01:11It's been a hectic 72 hours for rescue teams.
01:15In Sydney's east, the search for a 24-year-old man taken by a large wave at Little Bay entered its third day.
01:25We're just really pleading with people.
01:27Help us not put our people in danger.
01:29Our volunteer lifesavers and our lifeguards have risked their lives multitudes of times.
01:34A message authorities hope rings loud and clear with one day of the long weekend still to go.