By Lachlan Abbott and Ashleigh McMillan
Four men have been pulled dead from Victorian waters in separate incidents on the same day, adding to the state’s growing summer drowning toll.
Two drowned at beaches along Victoria’s Bass Coast, while a diver’s body was retrieved by water police along the South Gippsland Coast. Another man was found dead in a Melbourne creek.
Victoria Police said a man aged in his 20s died at Kilcunda Surf Beach after he was swept out to sea near the Bourne Creek Trestle Bridge about 8.30pm on Friday.
“Officers have been told the man was with a group of friends in the water, when he tried to retrieve a pair of sunglasses and was swept away,” police said in a statement. “Sadly, the man was found unresponsive on the beach about an hour later.”
Nearby on Phillip Island, a man was pulled from the water off Surf Beach by passers-by just after 3.30pm.
CPR was commenced, but the man, who is yet to be formally identified, died at the scene. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
In Melbourne, a man was discovered dead in Merri Creek in Coburg near Moreland Road at about 2.30pm on Friday.
Police are appealing for public assistance to identify the man last seen wearing a light-coloured shirt, black shorts and black runners. Police are still investigating the man’s death – including the cause of death and whether it was suspicious.
A diver was also reported missing at 3.45pm on Friday from Port Welshpool, about 40 kilometres south of the Gippsland town of Morwell.
His body was found about 20 kilometres offshore and retrieved by water police. He is yet to be formally identified, but the death is not being treated as suspicious.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Last summer, Victoria suffered the worst Christmas drowning spate in almost two decades after four people died across the state in the three days from Christmas Day.
With the end of 2023 dominated by wild wet weather, no one drowned off the state’s beaches over the three-day festive period spanning Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
But Victoria’s Christmas storms claimed several lives – including two campers found dead at a Buchan campground in Gippsland after a flash flood.
Two died in separate incidents off Bass Coast beaches on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
Across Australia, nine people drowned cross the same festive period – all in NSW and Queensland.
Deaths in Victorian waters have spiked after the Christmas period. On December 27, a kayaker died off Rosebud Beach on the Mornington Peninsula.
On New Year’s Day, a man was pulled from the water at Hut Gully Beach near Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road. Irish public broadcaster RTE identified the man as a 63-year-old Irish national who was on holiday.
On January 5, a man was found unresponsive in waters near the Bay Trail boat ramp in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula about 3pm.
On Tuesday afternoon, a man died while snorkelling off Altona Beach in Melbourne’s south-west.
According to Royal Life Saving Australia statistics, there were 41 drowning deaths in Australia between December 1, 2023 and January 4, 2024, compared with 34 at the same point in the summer of 2022-23.
There were eight drownings in Victoria between Christmas Day and January 12. The toll is three fewer than the same period last year. However, it is two more than the 10-year average from 2014.
Life Saving Victoria’s annual report released in late November found 59 lives were lost to drowning across the state in the last financial year – a 33 per cent increase on the decade average.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
With Sarah McPhee
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