A man who died after a rip swept him out to sea off Shellharbour South Beach yesterday has been identified as Dalibor Bubanja.
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Mr Bubanja was swimming with two other men when they were caught in the rip.
His body was found by his distraught family after it washed up on the beach after a four-hour search by air and sea.
Mr Bubanja, aged 36, was a well-known figure in the Illawarra, having grown up in the region with his brothers, Marko and Vaso, and sister Zorica.
He fell foul of the law on multiple occasions and at one stage was implicated in the contract killing of Dragan Sekuljica inside Splashes Nightclub in 2007.
He was convicted by a jury following a trial in 2014 but maintained his innocence and the Court of Criminal Appeal acquitted him 18 months later.
Meanwhile, Mr Bubanja spent further time behind bars after being sentenced for large scale drug supply following a police bust in early 2013 in which he was secretly recorded selling $135,000 worth of drugs to two undercover police agents in late 2011 and early 2012.
Mr Bubanja was on parole for the drug supply offences when he was arrested in 2020 and charged with domestic violence offences, however they were subsequently dropped just a few months later.
Emergency services were called to the unpatrolled Shellharbour South Beach about 1.30pm on Wednesday to reports a swimmer had gone missing.
A large-scale search commenced to find Mr Bubanja, which included an ambulance rescue helicopter and a Surf Life Saving chopper and Marine Rescue boats.
Council lifeguards from Shellharbour and Wollongong and surf life saving crews from Illawarra and South Coast also attended the scene.
Crews were on jet skis trying to find Mr Bubanja.
NSW Police officers coordinated the search from the beach while ambulance crews remained on stand-by.
At 5.15pm, Mr Bubanja's body washed ashore and members of his family pulled him onto the beach and started CPR.
Shellharbour and Wollongong lifeguards, a Surf Life Saving duty officer and ambulance crews also tried to resuscitate him but he could not be revived and he died at the scene.
A police spokesperson confirmed reports will be prepared for the coroner.
Shellharbour SLSC thanked all its members for responding to the emergency call out.
A post on Facebook said: "Thank you to all our members who responded to the emergency call out to Shellharbour South Beach today.
"Unfortunately not a positive outcome, but great teamwork from you all, in conjunction with council lifeguards, other SLS clubs, branch duty officers, police, marine rescue, etc."
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