Two men die, mate fights for life after Hornsby river tragedy
Two men died and a third is fighting for his life after a swimming tragedy at a river in Berowra National Park at Hornsby Heights on Friday night.
NSW
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A teenager has revealed the heartbreaking chaos as two young men drowned in a Sydney National Park and a third was left in critical condition on Friday night.
The three men were enjoying a balmy evening camping at Crosslands Reserve river in Berowra National Park at Hornsby Heights when they got into trouble in the water about 7.20pm.
Bilal Durnali, 16, who was attending a nearby holiday camp organised by ICMG Youth Guildford Mosque, said a younger boy had rushed up to his group of friends and said one of their youth group was drowning.
“We straight away got up and ran straight towards the river, getting on kayaks,” Bilal said. “The kayaks were too slow so I just jumped up and ran through the … wharf so I could get there quicker and I could help out.
Bilal said when he got to the water one of the men was being dragged ashore.
“One of the ambulance ladies and the campers he was with were slowly pulling him out. That’s when I jumped in and helped them grab him out of the water,” he said.
“I was diving under to find these guys and the girls were crying and saying ‘Two more. Two more. Under the water. Under the water’.”
The man pulled from the water was given CPR before being flown to hospital in critical condition.
The Sunday Telegraph has been told the man who survived was a 28-year-old of Nepalese descent.
Officers from the NSW Police Diving Unit found the bodies of two men aged 23 and 26 at 11.30pm.
Kuring-Gai Police Area Command’s Chief Inspector David Hogg said investigators are now attempting to piece together what went wrong.
“Around 7.20pm last night, three males went down to the river. A short time after that, one of the males was seen to be in some difficulty. Witnesses went in to assist and pulled that man to shore,” Chief Inspector Hogg said.
“At that time, they noticed the other two males had disappeared from view,” he said.
Bilal said he had been told the men “were playing around on the sandbank. They fell and kept going deeper and deeper until they were in the middle of the river”.
Originally published as Two men die, mate fights for life after Hornsby river tragedy
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