Two pulled from water after near-drownings

Lifeguards performed 13 rescues across the state by lunch time today - all outside of the flags - including one man who was taken to hospital after being pulled from waters on the Gold Coast.

LIFEGUARDS performed 13 rescues across the state by lunch time today - all outside of the flags - including one man who was taken to hospital after being pulled from waters on the Gold Coast.

Ambulance crews were sent to two separate near-drowning incidents in the state’s southeast within minutes, one at Mooloolaba and Broadbeach, just after 10.30am.

A man in his 40s was taken to Robina Hospital in a stable condition after being pulled from waters off Margaret Ave and Old Burleigh Rd on the Gold Coast.

A male in his 30s was also in a stable condition after being caught in a rip on the Sunshine Coast. He was assessed by paramedics at the scene, on the Mooloolaba Esplanade, but refused transportation to hospital.

The rescues come amid a spate of drownings and near-drownings on the Queensland coast.

A woman, 31, and a boy, 11, were pulled unconscious from a pool in The Grange estate at Brendale, north of Brisbane, on December 20.

Crowds pack into Mooloolaba Beach. Picture: File photo/Lachie Millard

They had been fighting for their lives in hospital, but police yesterday confirmed both Chinese nationals had since passed away.

Just two days after the Brendale tragedy, a Japanese boy, 7, was pulled lifeless from the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon and had his life support switched off a day later.

On December 19, an elderly man was recovered at Kings Beach, Caloundra and could not be saved, and a week later a man in his 50s was rescued at the same beach.

The Courier-Mail has learned of more than a dozen near-drownings so far this month in addition to at least three people who have lost their lives.

There have been 551 near-drownings nationwide in the past year.