Four people almost became the latest NSW drowning victims after they were washed off rocks and had to be plucked from the ocean in a mass rescue off North Wollongong Beach on Monday afternoon.
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A number of ambulances rushed to the popular, patrolled swimming spot just before 5.30pm following reports of a near-drowning.
The group - all males believed to be aged between about 12 and 25 - were assisted in the water by two nearby surfers and patrolling volunteer lifesavers, before being pulled ashore.
One of them was barely conscious, according to lifesavers.
“One wasn’t real healthy at all … he was conscious [but] only just, he wasn’t saying much,”
Kevin Ryan, from the North Wollongong Surf Life Saving Club, told the Mercury.
Mr Ryan said the four males, part of a large family group, were walking along the rocks at the northern end of the beach when they ended up in the water during low tide.
“We started to pack up [the IRB] probably a bit after quarter-past five and we were notified of a group of people who had been washed off the rocks,” Mr Ryan, who was Monday’s patrol captain, said.
“The young guys [lifesavers] were in the ATV, they raced down and one swam out with a tube and one went out with a board.”
Mr Ryan said two surfers got to the group first, before lifesavers arrived to help bring them to shore.
One of those surfers was 15-year-old David Jovanic, who managed to get two of those in distress onto his board.
“I was out in the surf and I saw five people out and they were screaming,” the teenager said.
“My mate warned me, so I went over and they were all drowning.
“I grabbed two of ’em, I tried to grab the third one but two other kids were in shock so they couldn’t kick to go grab ’em.
“My mate grabbed the lifeguards … they came out and grabbed them.”
David, who hadn’t seen the group prior to hearing their screams for help, said they were “really close” to being swept out to sea.
All four were assessed by paramedics at the scene before being taken to hospital for treatment.
The incident came during a horror run of deaths in the water across the state.
Fifteen people have drowned in NSW during the Christmas holiday period, including three in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
On Christmas Day, a 29-year-old Nepalese national, drowned at Wattamolla Lagoon - a popular swimming spot in the Royal National Park.
On Boxing Day , the body of a 27-year-old man who disappeared while swimming with a friend was recovered from waters in the Kangaroo River at the Bendeela campground, west of Nowra.
On the same day, a 56-year-old man from Kensington was pulled unconscious and "unresponsive" from the surf at Kioloa.
Paramedics rushed to the South Coast beach, but the man could not be revived.
“It’s been pretty horrendous this season,” Mr Ryan said.
“They [the rescued North Wollongong beachgoers] thought they were OK, they were on the rocks [but] the surf’s dangerous.”
