Newcastle Council is again defending its decision to cut the number of weeks its lifeguards are on duty, following another two near drownings at Newcastle beach today.
It was only by sheer luck that ex lifeguard Darren Forster was around when a young woman got into trouble at Newcastle beach just after lunch.
“Just about to go for a surf earlier and noticed a.girl in trouble down there and that, she actually went out to save one of her sisters, and yeah soon as I seen it, went out and grabbed her brought her back in….She had panic in her eyes, you could just see the panic as she was going down .”
In a double stroke of luck, the normally locked door to the clubhouse was left open.
“Lucky enough I was able to get a board out of the club that was open, the lifeguards aren’t here today so yeah just had to make do with what there was”, he said.
The woman was quickly taken to hospital for observation, and then just after NBN arrived, another swimmer got caught in the same rip.
This time another off duty lifeguard came to the rescue.
Back on dry land, the young swimmer and her friends appeared to find the whole ordeal amusing….One joked, “I kicked this ball into the rip and they told me to go get it and I got sucked into the rip and then she came and saved me.”
His friend, who jumped in, and subsequently required saving, also appeared to not realise the gravity of the situation…”He can’t swim so I went and got him and I got caught.” she said.
For local however it’s no laughing matter, nor is Council’s decision to axe seven weeks a year off the normal patrol period to dave money.
“You saw just then then that rip took another person out there just then it’s gonna happen its gonna happen all the time, we need these people on duty.” Darren Forster said.
Mayor Jeff McCloy’s defending the move saying swimmers should stick to Nobby’s and Bar Beach if they’re not confident in the water.
“We have beaches, 2 beaches and baths that are covered 24-7 by lifeguards, as I’ve said before people need to take personal responsibility for themselves.”
