Queensland’s horror water toll rises again after jet ski accident

A Gold Coast jet ski rider has become the 10th victim in Queensland’s horror holiday season of drownings after he fell from the vehicle off South Stradbroke Island on Wednesday.

A GOLD Coast jet ski rider has become the 10th victim in Queensland’s horror holiday season of drownings.

The Hope Island man, 54, died after falling from his ski off South Stradbroke Island on Wednesday morning.

Distraught friends who were riding with him north of the Gold Coast Seaway tried frantically to save him by administering CPR but he could not be revived.

Senior Sergeant Jay Notaro, officer-in-charge of Gold Coast Water Police, said the man had been “doing nothing dangerous” and may have been suffering from a medical condition.

Emergency services on the scene of a jet ski accident near South Stradbroke Island that left a man dead. Picture: 7 News Queensland

He was the 10th person to die in water incidents in Queensland in two weeks.

The terrible toll has ranged from a seven-year-old Japanese boy who drowned in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon on December 22 to two men in their 60s who drowned in the surf at Caloundra and Main Beach on December 29 and New Year’s Eve respectively.

The deaths have included the double drowning of a woman, 31, and boy, 11, who were plucked from a pool at Brendale on December 20 but later died in hospital.

Senior Sergeant Jay Notaro said the man had been doing “nothing dangerous” when he fell from his jet ski off South Stradbroke Island. Picture: David Clark

There has also been a spate of near-drownings which have left victims seriously ill in hospital.

The Royal Life Saving Society said it has been a bad start to the New Year for drownings and near-drownings in Queensland.

The society’s project officer, Kate Forrester, said there had been 60 drowning deaths in Queensland in 2017-18 – 13 fewer than the previous year but on par with 2014-15.

Ms Forrester said for every drowning death, there were an estimated 3.71 non-fatal incidents in the state.