The head of Surf Life Saving NSW has described as "carnage" the scene that unfolded at Bulli on Sunday morning as seven men were rescued from choppy seas after a boat capsized off nearby Peggy's Reef.
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Lifesavers and members of the public commenced CPR on four men who were unconscious and in cardiac arrest when they arrived on shore.
Tragically, one man could not be saved and died at the scene. The other three were flown to hospital, each in a critical condition.
The remaining men, as well as surfer Steve Davey, who heroically swam out to assist lifesavers in the rescue, were treated at the scene and taken to hospital.
Speaking to the media just after midday, Surf Lifesaving chief executive Steven Pearce described the incident as one of the most tragic seen in the Illawarra.
"The beach was a scene of carnage.... with debris washed over the entirety of the beach," he said.
"We had, unfortunately, victims laying unconscious over all the beach, and we had life saving equipment all over the beach."
However, he said the outcome would have been much worse if not for the swift and heroic actions of lifesavers and members of the public.
"Life savers here today have definitely saved multiple lives in what is a tragic incident," he said.
Mr Pearce revealed all seven men were thrown overboard when the boat capsized just after 10.30am, with several pinned under the hull.
He said lifesavers dove under the boat to pull the men to safety and held them afloat until they could be taken to shore.
He also revealed that in a fortuitous turn of events, the equipment needed to carry off the rescue was already on the beach, ready for deployment, as the club had been preparing for a training exercise.
"It's the quickest response that could ever have occurred for this incident," he said.
"If the moons hadn't aligned, if the sliding door moment hadn't occurred, we would have multiple fatalities today, I'm very sure of that."
Meanwhile, Wollongong police chief inspector Darren Brown said detectives had already begun investigating the cause of the accident.
"We know the vessel did capsize off or near Bulli Point," he said.
"What caused that we don't fully know at this stage.
"We have detectives speaking to the skipper of the vessel as we speak, and there's numerous witnesses initially....so it's going to take us a while to get through those."
Insp Brown confirmed police had seized the capsized boat as part of their investigation.
He was unable to say whether any of the men were wearing life jackets at the time of the crash.
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