Teenager killed after falling from cliff while whale watching
A TEENAGER is dead after falling off a cliff at a popular whale watching platform in Sydney’s south with paramedics and rescue helicopter doctors unable to revive him. It’s the second tragedy in six weeks at the same rock ledge.
NSW
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A TEENAGE tourist has died after taking a selfie at a popular whale watching location in Sydney’s south.
The 18-year-old man plummeted 10 metres to his death after slipping on cliff as he was taking a selfie on a ledge next to a popular whale watching platform at Kurnell.
He was with a group of between 15-20 people with one of the group shooting a video on their phone that captured his fatal fall. It’s believed the young man was part of a church youth group who were touring Sydney.
He was the second person to fall to their death from the same rock ledge in the past six weeks.
The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was on the seen within seven minutes of the man’s friends calling Triple 0 at 3.30pm but there was little they could to help save him.
“We arrived there within seven minutes after being contacted and dropped some green dye into the water which gave us an indication of how fast the direction of the current was, and from that we were able to locate the man just below the surface,” Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter CEO Stephen Leahy said.
Lifeguards on jetskis retrieved the teen before an Ambulance NSW helicopter winched him to
paramedics. They performed CPR but he could not be revived.
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Police said the teen died as a result of misadventure.
“He was here with a group of friends to go whale watching. They’ve made their way down onto the rock platform at this stage it appears to be misadventure where he’s slipped and fallen over the edge,” Chief Inspector Chris said.
“If you are attending this location, those rocks are very slippery so for your safety, stay up on the whale watching platform and please don’t go down on the rocks.”
The ledge the teen is believed to have fallen from is next to the fenced whale watching platform but is easy to access.
Last month, popular kindergarten teacher, Paul Lukasiewicz, slipped and fell from the same rock ledge when his boyfriend was taking a photo of him.
The Cape Solander cliffs, located in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park, are Sydney’s premier spots to catch humpback whales in the winter months as they migrate to the warmer waters in Queensland.
National Parks NSW promotes the lookout as “an unbeatable lookout during whale watching season”.
“If you’re lucky you won’t even need to look far — whales have been known to swim as close as 200m from the coast,” the National Parks site reads.
