Two people have died after a boat capsized while trying to cross a sandbar.
Emergency services rushed to the Yamba Breakwater, in northern NSW, after a boat failed to cross the Yamba coastal bar about 6am on Thursday.
A 52-year-old man was pulled from the water and taken to Maclean District Hospital for assessment and mandatory testing.
A short time later, a woman was pulled from the water by a member of the public and a second man was spotted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and rescued by Marine Rescue NSW.
Paramedics attempted to treat the pair but both died at the scene.
While yet to be formally identified, they are both believed to be aged in their 50s.
‘An investigation into the incident is underway by the NSW Police Force Marine Area Command,’ NSW Police said in a statement.
‘Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.’
Three people were travelling on a boat when it capsized (above) off Yamba on Thursday morning
One man was taken to hospital while two others died at the scene after being spotted by a rescue helicopter
Witnesses claimed the man rescued from the boat said his vessel was knocked over by a rogue wave
Local fisherman Zac Keys was in a boat near the tragedy as it unfolded.
He recalled seeing a man scramble onto a liferaft and set off a flare.
‘It got to the point where we were like, we just need to get the bloke,’ Mr Keys told 7News.
‘So we pulled up next to the raft, probably halfway out the bar in the swell, and I grabbed onto the bloke and ripped him over the side of the boat and put him on the deck.’
The man told Mr Keys and his other rescuers that his own boat had been knocked over by a rogue wave.
‘He was just in and out of consciousness, had a cut on his head. He was in shock, he was pale white, shaken,’ Mr Keys said.
‘He was concerned his wife and his brother-in-law were trapped underwater in the boat but we didn’t know where they were.’
