Woman dead in drowning incident at Froggy’s Beach Rainbow Bay
Authorities plan to scrutinise a stretch of Gold Coast beach where a visiting mum has drowned a hero trying to save her daughter. Read about the action plan for safety.
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A Gold Coast City Councillor vows to work with lifesavers to assess an unpatrolled beach where a visiting mum has drowned a hero trying to save her kids.
A witness to the drowning of visiting Redbank Plains mother Sonya Knyf says she looked like she was holding up a teenager – who was saved – before going limp and disappearing at Froggy Beach on Sunday afternoon.
Ms Knyf and her kids had got into trouble washed into the whitewash of dangerous surf at Froggy’s Beach between Point Danger and Snapper Rocks at about 3.15pm.
The mother was eventually pulled from the water but unable to be resuscitated and died at the scene after. Her teenage children, an 18-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl, were transported to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
Area councillor Gail O’Neill said her “heart absolutely broke” to hear of the death.
“It’s devastating. My condolences go out to the family,” she said. “It is not patrolled. It is not a swimming beach.”
Froggy Beach is metres from Rainbow Beach’s Surf Lifesaving Tower 1 but not part of Rainbow Beach SLSC’s patrol area. Asked if signage identifying it as unpatrolled or advising against swimming was needed, Cr O’Neill said she would speak with surf lifesavers for “more information”.
“We will ask the opinion of the lifesavers about what they think (council) should do,” she said. “But as far as I know, at least in my time, there has never been an incident like this at Froggy’s.”
Witness Andrew Stathis was on a Tinder Date at Froggy Beach, just near famed surf break Snapper Rocks, as the tragedy was unfolding.
“I saw two, what I thought at the time, young females struggling to stay afloat about 15 meters from the shoreline at Froggy’s,” he said.
“The older lady looked like she was holding up the teenager and eventually they washed up on the rock where a man dragged the young girl up but at the same time the older lady was washed back into the surf.
“She tried to stay afloat but the white water was too much and she went under and went limp.”
The woman, a mother in her 50s, was unable to be resuscitated after being pulled from the water.
Queensland Ambulance Service on Monday morning issued a warning to beachgoers, noting it was the last day of volunteer patrols.
Senior Operations Supervisor Jayney Shearman said QAS was alerted at 3.15pm on Sunday to multiple people struggling in the ocean at Froggy’s Beach.
“We were alerted to a mother and her two teenage children in trouble in the water.”
Ms Shearman added two other gentlemen headed into the waters to help the mother.
“She was pulled from the water by Surf Lifesaving in an unconscious state and resuscitation attempts were undertaken.”
Two males in their 30s were also taken to hospital after attempting to rescue the family trio. It was unclear whether the two men were known to the family.
Ms Shearman said the incident was a “timely reminder” of the dangers of swimming in rough surf.
“It’s great to swim, but having said that, Mother Nature can be quite unforgiving,” she said.
“This is also the last day that the volunteer Surf Lifesaving will be having their patrols.”
Froggy’s Beach continues to be an unpatrolled stretch, and was known as a popular surfing location because of its rough surf.
Mr Stathis, an Ipswich local who has frequented Coolangatta for the past four decades, commended the two men who jumped in to rescue the teens and to try to save their mother.
“But at that point I was quite distressed,” he said.
“I’ve been going to Cooly for 40 years, my family owned a unit for 30 years at North Kirra.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Rainbow Bay SLSC patrol captain Gaven Shepherd, 50, said huge swells exposing large swathes of rock made Froggy Beach “extremely dangerous”.
“Today is our last patrol for the season, but from tomorrow paid lifeguards will cover all beaches across the Gold Coast,” he said.
“But Froggy’s Beach is a non-patrolled beach and so is extremely dangerous. So as always we advise swimmers to swim only between the red and yellow flags at all times.”
INITIAL: ‘They were smashed against the rocks’: Woman drowns at Coast beach
Police reported a good samaritan rushed into the water at Froggy Beach to try and save Ms Knyf.
She was rescued and attempts were made to revive her but she tragically died at the scene.
Her child and the good samaritan were rescued and unharmed in the incident.
Bystanders attending a gender reveal party on the beach ran into the water to help the family once it became clear they were in distress.
Witnesses at the scene spoke of the distressing scenes.
“They had just been getting smashed against the rocks,” one woman told 9 News.
Mehdi Balouch revealed what he saw at the scene.
“The mother and her daughter started drowning and my brother hopped in and tried saving them and he saved the daughter,” he said.
“My brother in law (helped) pull the daughter out and went back in for the mother.
Lifesavers were forced to enter the water and help the bystanders who had attempted to rescue the family.
Two males in their 30s and one in their 40s were taken by ambulance to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
A fourth patient was taken to hospital privately.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, a man drowned at a Currumbin Waters creek bed at 4pm.
A report will be prepared for the Coroner.
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Originally published as Woman dead in drowning incident at Froggy’s Beach Rainbow Bay
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