Two men drowned off Frankston Pier on Wednesday afternoon after a rookie surfer’s board snapped and his friend jumped into wild seas in a desperate bid to save him.
Detective Inspector Melissa Nixon, speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning, said the surfer was a 36-year-old British national and his friend was a 43-year-old man.
A police helicopter at Frankston beach on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Hans Vanderstadt
Nixon said a police rescuer was also taken to hospital after he rappelled down from a helicopter to pluck the men from the churning sea and swallowed water.
He has now been discharged, but Nixon lamented that people had put themselves at risk and agreed the two deaths were preventable.
“It’s only the early stages of the investigation, but it appears he [the surfer] was only just learning to surf,” she said.
“The weather conditions yesterday [Wednesday] obviously were not appropriate to be in the water surfing, whether you are experienced or you’re not experienced.”
Nixon said both men lived in Frankston, but police were still working to notify next-of-kin overseas.
“The surfer was obviously in distress. He was struggling in the water after the surfboard broke. He wasn’t experienced in surfing,” she said.
“His friend obviously saw he was in distress and jumped in to help.”
Extreme winds reaching 130km/h wreaked havoc across Victoria on Wednesday, bringing down trees and cutting power to thousands of homes.
Emergency services were called to Frankston Beach shortly before 4.45pm following reports two men were in trouble in the water.
A Victoria Police helicopter was used to winch the unresponsive men from the turbulent sea, but they could not be saved.
“Do not go swimming or surfing in conditions like this,” Nixon said.
“You put yourself at risk, you put people who jump into help you at risk. It’s clearly not appropriate to go into the water.”
On Thursday morning, a few joggers braved the strong offshore breeze and seaweed littered the pier, but conditions were much calmer.
Frankston resident Hans Vanderstandt witnessed the police rescue attempt on Wednesday afternoon, after driving down to the foreshore to check the conditions.
He saw the helicopter hovering above the surf about 100 metres from the shore and the officer being winched up and down several times.
“It wasn’t good, the waves were actually breaking up across the pier and the wind was incredibly strong,” said Vanderstandt, a keen boater involved with the local yacht club.
Frankston resident Jeff Svigos, who was walking his dogs Lemon and Nara on Thursday morning, said the wind was so vicious on Wednesday that they did not venture outside for long.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
He heard the police helicopter fly overhead on Wednesday afternoon but did find out about the two deaths until later.
“I don’t know the circumstances … I don’t know why you’d be in the water when it’s so treacherous,” he said.
Wild winds felled a treen onto a tram near Cabrini Hospital in Malvern.
The State Emergency Service was swamped with more than 1400 calls, including reports of more than 1000 toppled trees. Just 22 calls for assistance were outstanding by 6.30am on Thursday, a spokesperson said.
Wind gusts of up to 130km/h were recorded at Wilsons Promontory, 120km/h at Mount Gellibrand, 117km/h at Falls Creek, 113km/h at Mount Hotham and 98km/h at Cape Otway.
The powerful winds peaked in Melbourne at 96km/h in St Kilda.
In Malvern, a large tree toppled onto a tram and the rear of a car near Cabrini Hospital. The female car driver told ABC radio she rushed to check on her daughter sitting in the back seat.
Melburnians battle strong winds in the CBD. Credit: Joe Armao
“I stopped, and I saw a tree branch had come through the back window of the car … my daughter was in the child’s seat, so I ran out to see if she was OK,” she said.
Power companies are still working to restore power to hundreds of households on Thursday morning. On Wednesday evening, 13,111 homes were without electricity across the state.
A severe weather warning for more destructive winds has been cancelled, as the low-pressure system moves into the Tasman Sea and towards New Zealand, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
“The impacts of this battering were pretty extensive,” said senior meteorologist Angus Hines.
He said Victorians could expect calmer weather on Thursday.
“It will be cool and very settled across most of the south-east, although there’ll be quite a bit of cloud cover for some parts of southern Australia, very little rain in the forecast as well,” Hines said.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
