Police have paid tribute to a man who drowned while attempting to save the life of a seven-year-old girl on the far north coast yesterday.
At around 3:30pm, emergency services were called to Fingal Head Beach, near Tweed Heads, amid reports a number of people jumped into the surf when the girl began to struggle while swimming.
She was safely brought to shore, but two of the rescuers subsequently found themselves in trouble.
Surf Life Savers pulled both men from the water, but one of them, a 30-year-old from Queensland, died at the scene.
The girl was taken to hospital but has since been released.
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