Accidents

Australia: Easter Weekend Drowning Death Toll Rises to 7

APR 19 2025·Updated APR 22 2025

Story

Above: People watch a large wave breaking on a rock pool at North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney on April 18, 2025. Image credit: David Gray/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

The Facts

In Australia, a nine-year-old boy died after being trapped between rocks at South West Rocks on New South Wales' Mid North Coast on Sunday afternoon, taking the number of coastal deaths over the Easter long weekend to seven.
ABC
Daily Mail
Emergency services attempted to free the boy from the rocks, but he died at the scene. According to Surf Life Saving NSW, it was the worst Easter drowning toll on record. Two people remain missing.
RNZ
BBC News
Lifesavers and lifeguards have performed over 150 rescues since Good Friday, with dangerous conditions created by high temperatures, holiday crowds, and powerful ocean swells along the coastline.
Stuff
SBS News
Multiple victims were swept off rocks while fishing, including incidents at Wattamolla Beach, where a father died and his 14-year-old son was hospitalized, and at Wollongong Harbour, where a 58-year-old fisherman perished.
guardian
Au
BBC News
In Victoria, a woman drowned and her husband remains missing after being swept into the sea at San Remo, while in NSW, the search continues for a 24-year-old man who was swept off rocks at Little Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
BBC News
Au
guardian
Royal Life Saving Australia reports that an average of six drownings occurred each Easter long weekend over the past 20 years, with 323 drowning deaths recorded across the country in the year to June 2024.
guardian
BBC News

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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CRIT

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ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

The dangerous conditions created unprecedented risks for coastal activities, with waves too powerful for safe recreation. Every drowning could have been prevented if beachgoers had observed the posted warnings and stayed away from the coastline while the dangerous swell impacted New South Wales.

Stuff

Narrative B

The unseasonably warm long Easter weekend was expected to draw a large number of people to the East Coast. This series of unusual events begs the question of whether a more comprehensive emergency response was warranted as the devastating waves approached.

ABC

SBS News