Two women picnicking in Sydney’s south drowned after a freak wave swept them off rocks and out to sea, authorities believe.
A third woman also swept from the rock shelf is recovering in hospital.
Emergency services were called to Yena Road at Kurnell in the Sutherland shire about 4.30pm on Monday.
A New South Wales police superintendent, Joe McNulty, said the group had been picnicking in the Botany Bay national park.
“They went for a walk to the rock shelf [where] there was a low tide at that time,” he told ABC News.
“That rock shelf was very exposed and, when they’re exposed, they’re very slippery, and they’re actually quite a dangerous location to be in, especially so close to the ocean.”
McNulty said three of the women had been knocked into the water by a large wave.
“The pressure has swept them out to sea, but luckily – very luckily – one was able to be plucked from the water by two of the group and a passerby lended assistance as well,” he said.
A nearby police helicopter spotted the women in the water and, together with a police boat, rescue crews pulled two of the women unconscious from the water.
Crew members began CPR but the women were unable to be revived.
“It’s a very difficult operation doing CPR over wet people on a moving boat, or moving deck, and one of the officers drove that vessel at speed back to Kurnell,” McNulty said.
The women had not been rock-fishing, he confirmed.
“They were just out there for a walk in a dangerous situation that they didn’t know they were in at the time,” he said.
It is the second drowning at Kurnell in less than a fortnight.
Two men fishing were swept off rocks on Cape Solander Drive on 28 May in an area declared a high-risk rock-fishing location, where anglers must wear life jackets.
The deceased women are yet to be formally identified.
