Coffs Harbour drowning: Man’s body found by family member
A relative of the 20-year-old who died made the shocking discovery two days after he vanished. The man’s family have paid tribute to the “loving, amazing” young man.
NSW
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The grief-stricken family of a man found dead at Coffs Harbour after an exhaustive two-day search have lashed out at emergency services after they were the ones who found his remains.
The family of the 20-year-old say they are devastated after stumbling onto the confronting scene at Coffs’ breakwall, a tragic end to a traumatic couple of days for the tight-knit community.
Not long after the discovery they were still clinging to hope he may have survived.
“We still believe he is alive,” his tearful sister Nargis Yaqubi said.
The man’s body was reportedly spotted between the rocks by a family member who had been holding a vigil on Saturday morning.
He was last seen on Thursday by a woman who said she spotted him in the ocean on the south end of the wall before he vanished into the swell.
Water police and surf life savers had scoured the coast and went as far as 10km out at sea in a bid to locate the man.
“That’s the first thing you have to do is look in the rocks,” Ms Yaqubi said.
“He was the most loving brother … I don’t have words to say.
“He was the most loving and amazing person in our family.”
The search effort had been hampered by huge waves and bad weather conditions with police having to suspend their efforts on Thursday night as the surf became hazardous.
“This community has been traumatised now by this horrific incident,” Coffs-Clarence Police District Chief Inspector Joanne Reid said.
“We implore people to heed those warning signs to stay safe so we don’t have outcomes like we’ve had today.
“The area (where the body was found) was earmarked as an area we wanted to look at but with every search it’s dependent on conditions and the weather with this one played a huge part in that, it didn’t allow us to get access where it would have been safe to do so.”
It marks a horror 24 hours on the state’s coast after three men were killed when they were swept from rocks at Port Kembla on Friday night.
ANTON.ROSE@NEWS.COM.AU
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