A Kiwi father has died after attempting to save two young family members at a New South Wales beach.
Stephen Mote, 41, was with a group of family and friends at Woonona Beach near Wollongong on Saturday.
Local police said two children were playing in the water when they were swept out to sea, and six adults from the group jumped into the water to help save them.
Emergency crews were called to the beach at about 5:40pm to rescue eight people caught in a rip and lifeguards from a nearby beach were also called in.
Inspector Matt Sterling from NSW Ambulance said the catalyst for the incident was an attempt to help the children.
"One of the initial problems was actually trying to ascertain how many people were in the water, whether everyone was out safely, and certainly who needed a medical assessment," he said, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mote, a father-of-four and stepfather-of-five, was swept out to sea in the late afternoon with his family members 40 minutes after lifeguards went off duty.
While the children were pulled to safety, Mote was unconscious once rescue staff reached him.
Paramedics performed CPR on him for 40 minutes but he couldn't be saved. Three others from the group were taken to hospital for treatment.
The children Mote was trying to rescue were his son and niece.
"No words can describe the scene we were faced with today," Sterling said.
Nathan McEwan from Woonona Boardriders was among people who helped with the rescue.
"They said, 'You need to get a board and get out there, there are people drowning,' so I ran up the side and grabbed my daughter's paddleboard and just took off," he told 9News.
He put Mote on his board before rescuing his partner and another family member.
"The timing could not have been worse, late afternoon … they spent the day in the sun, and the flags weren't up," he said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Mote's partner Rebekah Boyle and his children.
