Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said extreme surf conditions were hampering search efforts at Coogee: “Overnight, it has got more ferocious and stronger again.”
It came after the body of a 25-year-old woman was found at Maroubra at 5am on Thursday, after she was struck by a wave and knocked into the Mahon rock pool before being pulled into the ocean.
Police were called to Maroubra Beach about 4am on Thursday following reports the woman had been struck by a wave. A police helicopter, the marine area command and several NSW ambulance paramedics searched the area and found the body believed to be that of the missing woman about 5am.
The woman, who Pearce said was a Chinese national, is yet to be formally identified. A report will be prepared for the coroner. There are 68 beaches closed in NSW on Thursday, including Coogee and Maroubra, and most of those in Sydney.
A hazardous surf warning is in place for the Sydney coastline on Thursday morning, as the Bureau of Meteorology urges swimmers to stay away from the water and areas exposed to the surf amid an elevated risk of danger.
Boat crews are warned against crossing shallow waters and ocean bars, while rock fishers are encouraged to find platforms without direct exposure to rough surf.
Mahon Pool, Maroubra, on New Year’s morning.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong
The surf warning has also been activated on the Hunter Coast, Macquarie Coast, Coffs Coast and Byron Coast, and will remain in place until at least Thursday evening.
Waves on the Sydney coastline were reaching over three metres on Thursday morning, according to meteorologist Jiwon Park, who forecast the swell to start easing on Friday.
“Sydney is currently reporting the highest waves … [but] these conditions can hit all over the coast today,” Park said.
A low-pressure system forming over New Zealand is responsible for the conditions, Park said, finding that the system brought “seasoned swells” that were long and organised by the time it reached the NSW coast.
Pearce implored Sydneysiders not to expose themselves to the dangerous surf conditions.
“We are urging, no in fact we are pleading for people to not enter the water today if that beach is closed,” he said.
“If you do not see a lifesaver standing on the beach, if you do not see those red and yellow flags, do not enter the water today.”
The death in Maroubra comes one day after a man died at Palm Beach, after his small boat flipped in large swell and landed on nearby rocks shortly after midday.
A 14-year-old boy who was a passenger on the boat remains missing and a search for him will resume on Thursday morning. Another man who was on the flipped boat was hospitalised after he was discovered on a nearby rock platform, some 25 metres from the upturned boat, with significant wounds to his left leg.
He was winched from the rocks by a rescue helicopter, before he was lowered onto a nature clearing near the foreshore car park for treatment.
Authorities believe there were three people in the boat at the time of the accident, and were unable to confirm any relationship between the trio.
Pearce was concerned that NSW had entered a “horrific period”, as he lamented what appeared to be “four separate drowning deaths” on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We were hoping to start the year [with] a fantastic, fresh start, 2025 was extremely tumultuous for all the emergency services” he said.
A man died and a teenager is missing after a boat flipped near Palm Beach on Wednesday.
“Today I can’t stand here and say happy new year, because there are families whose lives are irreparably damaged from the last 24 hours.”
A 50-year-old man required resuscitation at Avoca Beach on Wednesday evening, after off-duty lifesavers found the man submerged after bodyboarding in the swell around 7.10pm.
He was brought onto the sand, where CPR was conducted before a defibrillator was applied on his chest. The man was airlifted to hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
A child underwent CPR at Puckey’s Beach near Wollongong on Wednesday, before being hospitalised with another child who encountered trouble in the surf.
Another group of children were rescued by onlookers at a beach in the Royal National Park, while surfers came to the aid of a father and three children after they were taken by the swell at Broulee Beach on the south coast.
Surf lifesavers performed 85 rescues since Christmas Day, a spike which Pearce said had “caught everyone off guard”. Coastal drowning deaths in NSW have risen 26 per cent over the past six months.
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