WARNING signs at the north Park Beach carpark, near Macauley’s headland, are due to be re-installed by City of Coffs Harbour after being destabilised by coastal erosion.
“Not soon enough,” said one Korora Beach user, a man aged 60, who told News Of The Area that he had recently seen a near drowning there.
“I was at the north end of Park Beach, near the carpark looking east, when I noticed a swimmer getting taken out by a rip,” he said.
The swimmer pushed towards the beach but each time he stopped to get his breath back, he was pulled “further out”.
“Luckily a surfer just pulled up in his car, and I alerted him… and he hurriedly ran out and saved the guy.
“As he dropped him on the beach, another swimmer got into trouble in the same spot near the headland.”
The surfer went back out and completed a second rescue.
“The guy who helped had an accent and I asked him where he was from. He told me he was from Texas.
“He saved two swimmers that morning.”
The incidents prompted calls for the urgent replacement of signage warning of the dangers at the unpatrolled beach.
A City of Coffs Harbour spokesperson confirmed to NOTA that a work order had been placed.
“A beach advisory sign near the carpark at Macauley’s will be installed after the previous sign at this location, in the dunes, appears to have been removed by coastal erosion,” they said.
The signs are expected soon.
By Andrea FERRARI
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