Overseas student drowns at Semaphore Beach, Adelaide

AN INTERNATIONAL student who drowned near the breakwater at Semaphore beach was the 11th person to drown off South Australia’s coast since July.

A boat in the water between Henley Beach jetty and Grange jetty this morning, searching for a man possibly missing in the water off Henley Beach. 25/03/15. Picture: Stephen Laffer

AN INTERNATIONAL student who drowned near the breakwater at Semaphore beach was the 11th person to drown off South Australia’s coast since July.

Surf Life Saving SA emergency operations manager Andrew Bedford has issued a plead for the community to be aware of the dangers and speak to volunteer life savers at metropolitan beaches or check safety messages on the group’s website or mobile phone app before going into the water.

“We’ve had 11 drownings in South Australia already this financial year; that’s terrible and there’s three months to go in our swimming season,’’ Mr Bedford said. “If people are swimming at an unfamiliar beach, they should speak to life savers or check out the Beach Safe app, or the website.’’

Life savers were about 300m from where the drowning occurred. Emergency services were called to Semaphore South just before 3pm after a routine boat patrol was alerted by two men on the breakwater opposite Bower Rd that a person was in difficulty in the choppy seas.

Life savers found a man, believed to be from India and aged 25, floating on the seaward side of the breakwater.

Semaphore Life Saving Club volunteers pulled the man from the water unconscious and immediately began resuscitation.

That continued on the shore for several minutes before SA Ambulance paramedics arrived and continued treatment for more than 20 minutes. However, the man died.

Mr Bedford later conducted a debriefing and counselling session with the volunteer life savers involved with the rescue.

“There were a couple who were quite upset about the whole thing but they did everything they could and probably more than most others could do,’’ he said. “When we do training, everybody lives but (in real emergencies) that’s not always the case.’’

Police spoke to two friends of the man who stayed on the breakwater and other witnesses who saw the incident from the beach.

The incident is not considered suspicious and police will prepare a report for the State Coroner.

The drowning is the latest in a series of tragedies, some involving migrants, at South Australian beaches or in the River Murray.

In January, Burundian refugees and close friends Frank Ndikuriyo and Thierry Niyomwungere, both 11, died at Glenelg after being swept from rocks on New Year’s Day.

About a week earlier, Glenn Bollen, 40, disappeared on Boxing Day after a boat capsized while he was crayfishing off Beachport in the state’s South East and in October last year Rajeepan Nakuleswaran, 21, drowned in the River Murray, near Renmark.

A 63-year-old kite surfer also drowned at Semaphore beach in August last year.

The national figures released in January showed that four times as many males as females become drowning victims.