THEY DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD… BUT IT STILL ENDED IN TRAGEDY — HERO RESCUERS HAILED AFTER TRIPLE-FATAL MISSION OFF Ballina TAKES DEVASTATING TURN, AS INVESTIGATION BEGINS INTO WHAT WENT WRONG IN FINAL MOMENTS

Divers will search for the wreckage of a yacht off the NSW north coast later this week, when the dangerous waters that saw three people killed during a rescue attempt last night have calmed.

A member of the public called emergency services about 6.15pm yesterday to report a yacht having difficulties off the South Ballina break wall.

Police said Marine Rescue NSW crew responded, but their rescue boat rolled while crossing the Ballina bar in “heavy conditions”.

Three men were killed in the disaster, with police now confirming further details.

The body of a man aged in his 50s was found on the sand nearby. He is yet to be formally identified.

Of the six Marine Rescue crew members involved in the accident, two were killed.

The body of one crew member, aged 78, was recovered by the Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter, while a second, aged 62, was found on the sand.

Marine Area Command’s Superintendent Joe McNulty said the rescuers had faced “severe conditions” including 2.5-metre swell as they travelled downriver toward the ocean.

At the Ballina bar, a wave of similar height proved too difficult to navigate, and the boat foundered and capsized.

Of the six men on board, McNulty said, some were trapped beneath the boat’s hull, and some were thrown from the vessel entirely.

He confirmed the two rescuers killed in the tragedy were from the Ballina area.

“These men are heroes. They volunteer their lives to save others,” McNulty said.

Four other crew members, aged 55, 75, and two aged 61, reached the shore and were treated by paramedics before three were taken to hospital.

NSW Ambulance Assistant Commissioner Brent Armitage said they had suffered minor bumps, bruises, abrasions, and fractures, but were expected to make a full recovery.

McNulty said an investigation would be launched into the accident.

Officers at the time of the incident did not know how many people had been aboard the yacht, and launched a coordinated search with the help of paramedics, the SES, the Westpac chopper, and the AMSA Challenger jet.

That search was paused overnight due to dangerous weather, before resuming this morning.

The search has since been suspended after police said inquiries indicated that no other people were on board the yacht at the time.

McNulty also confirmed police had received no distress call from the yacht itself and no flares had been seen.

The body of the man in his 50s was not wearing a lifejacket at the time of recovery.

McNulty said police divers would likely enter the water Thursday when the seas were safe enough to do so, in order to gather evidence from the yacht’s wreckage.

McNulty said the yacht, which he believed was NSW-registered, had crashed into the break wall and broken apart.