Girl, 3, dies after being pulled from Hawkesbury River
A toddler at the centre of a tragic drowning in NSW earlier this week was playing with her 10 siblings on their family’s 7m yacht before she went missing.
QLD News
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The three-year-old girl who died in a tragic boating accident on Tuesday has been identified as Zeinobiyah Soetekouw, nicknamed Zobbie by her parents Steve and Beccie. The toddler had been playing with her 10 siblings on their yacht while moored in the Hawkesbury River on Tuesday afternoon.
The Soetokouw family had called their 7m yacht - the Sumbawa - home for two years.
Beccie went ashore while the yacht was moored in the Dead Horse Bay off Brooklyn but when she returned, realised her second youngest was missing.
Zobbie was found in the water about 100 metres from the boat, where she had been floating for about 20 minutes.
A witness has recalled how paramedics spent about 30 minutes performing CPR on the little girl who drowned in a tragedy that has left the community heartbroken.
Water police found the three-year-old girl in the water shortly after 12.45pm, pulled her out and tried to revive her.
She was rushed to the wharf at Deerubbun Reserve at Mooney Mooney where paramedics took over and tried to save her.
Robert Biegalke, who operates an ice cream and coffee truck at the reserve, said emergency services all seemed to arrive at once.
“At first there was a low-flying helicopter (above the reserve) which is very unusual.
“I had a look around and that was when the police boat came rushing into the boat area.
“Virtually at the same time a flood of police vehicles and ambulances arrived. It was incredibly busy.”
He said the girl was quickly moved from the police boat onto the wharf and a paramedic spent about 30 minutes trying to save her.
“Paramedics were working on someone straight away.
“You could see the paramedic just endlessly giving CPR … it just felt too long to be good.”
He said police tried to create a barrier for privacy on the wharf.
Heart wrenching footage showed a number of officers around the body and a paramedic pressing down on the girl’s chest.
Zobbie was then flown to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead where she was pronounced dead after arrival.
It is unclear if she was wearing a life jacket when she fell in the water.
Hornsby councillor Nathan Tilbury said the community was heartbroken.
“I am unaware if the family was local, but safety on the Hawkesbury is one of council’s major concerns … a beautiful day turned into a nightmare for one family and the entire community is heartbroken to hear of their loss.
“One of the things that makes us such a strong community is the fact that we all come together in a time of crisis and no matter where these people are from, we are here for them.”
A worker in Mooney Mooney, who did not want to be named, said she heard emergency services and the rescue helicopter but had no idea what was happening.
“We heard them here from the club but we had no idea what was happening,” she said.
“We saw the Marine rescue boys who moor at our jetty but they are often out on the water so we did not think much of it.”
She said she only found out what happened when she heard it on the radio.
“None of the locals knew much about it,” she said.
Investigations are continuing. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
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