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1:23AM Sunday 20 July, 2008 Sunshine Coast weather Mostly sunny min 9° - max 23°

Chinese student drowns

12:00a.m. 25th February 2008

A CHINESE student has become the first person to drown on a Sunshine Coast beach this summer.

The 25-year-old woman went swimming at an unpatrolled section of Sunshine Beach with two male friends just before 6pm on Saturday, but changing currents whipped up by wind gusts of up to 90 knots saw the trio caught in a rip within minutes.

While one of the men managed to make it back to shore, the woman and their friend were swept away.

Police believe the man tried to help the woman but she began to panic and he was forced to let her go.

Two surfers found the pair floating face down, while Sunshine Beach residents whose homes overlooked the ocean called 000.

The board riders managed to bring both the man and woman back to shore where life savers were able to resuscitate the man.

Tragically, the woman could not be revived.

Yesterday, police were notifying the young woman’s family. It is believed she split her time between the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank while she was studying at Griffith University, and a home in Tewantin.

A Sunshine Beach resident said the water conditions changed very quickly on the afternoon of the drowning.

“It’s just one of those very freaky things, because 10 minutes beforehand and they may have been fine,” he said. “But with all the rain we’ve had and all the run off, the sands would have been shifting and with the storm that came over the current would have changed very suddenly and they got into trouble.”

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Posted by delyster from Currimundi
on 25 February, 2008 at 5:10 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
My heart aches for the family who lost their child through drowning, I wish I could help them to ease their pain. But, why do people ignore the message not to swim outside of the flagged area. Our surf lifesavers are doing a fantastic (but sometimes an ungrateful) but they can't do the impossible. I am sorry for their lose.
Posted by Nico1 from Noosa Heads
on 25 February, 2008 at 7:59 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
The death of this young lady is a tragedy for everyone, more especially for her family and those people involved with her rescue.

Once a again it highlights the dangers of our beaches, and the way the conditions can change so dramatically in a very short period of time.

I am sure it will be raised again the importance of swimming between the flags, however this incident occurred after patrol hours of the surf life savers had ceased.

Also would like to bring to the attention of ‘The Daily’, that at the end of last year a kite surfer died on the southern end of our coast.

I am sure the family of this man still are grieving his death, and when we are thinking about this young lady’s family, please spare a thought for this man’s family.
Posted by flipflop from kin kin
on 25 February, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Do they still "educate" tourists during their flight over?? Perhaps it needs to be played in the appropriate language for that particular flight,eg mandarin from China etc
A similar format to the horrific adds about drink driving might capture their interest and emphasize the reality.

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