Thu.sday, December 27, 2007 Sunghine Cost*'Dailv

av SA'l| gr$ffnord BLYTilE Sf|flOn

A KITE suder drotned otlBulcock geach late )€sterdayaitemoon, mekiog a bad dayon the

'Yater for holidalrak-

e$ as king tldesclosed beach-es acrrss the regiou,

'fhe man, in his 30s, lvasfouild utrconscious in the riv-er mouth, atthe northem eDdof Pumieeshne Passage.north of llUbie Island.

LiiesaYin g s€n'ices co'ordi-nator ByronMills said Lifesav-crs rvere alerted by a ldplsO

call from a pemor staying atunjts opposite the beach.

An inshore rescue boat andjet skis lYere used in lhes€arch for the man, who wasforrnd in the \ut€( trncon-sclous ed not breathing.

Mr Mills said lifesavcrs al-tempted to resuscitate iheman for 10 to 15 minules be'fore ambul:rnce crers ar'rived.

They cotrtiluetl to performCPll for uother l0 lo 15 mi-nutes untii he sas Lratrsport-ed to Caloundra llospilal- Ile\?s later pronoulced dea{i.

Lifesaving servjces manag-er ior Swf Lifesaviftg Queens-land, George Hill, cotrfirmedlast night the mm was a kitesurfer, following witness fe'ports he might have been a\'/ind surfer."Iire cause of dealh lt'

mained unknolvn."This is an absolutc lragc-

dy, ii's a very sad day, esPe-cially giveD that this has bap-pencd dru'ing th{r Clnisln}asbrcak," Mr Mills said

He said king tides and re-centbad weather had meant arelatively quiet leshre season

in lhe watcr. but the strongwinds lverc lavourable iorkiie sutfers,

Ile \Yus unsurehow the nandlowned and whelhcf lhere\!ere any corllributing ilc'lors, but said lhere were tlosigns io detcruljre his causcofdcath otier ihan by dro\ru-ing-The nan's distraughtpartler, vho was on thcbeacl), was eomforted byfrienG while thc man lvas ta.ken to hospilal in the rmbr-lance.

Meanwhile it was a busy

day for lifesaveN across thcSunsh:ne Lloast yesler(lay,with anothcr nine peoplencedillg to bc tesured al va-rious locirtions. E'

One persor wNS rescucdfrom i\lcxandfia llay i11of bc-ing caught in a rip, while lir€pcopie \Yero caught in a riP atMooioolabt.

Thrcc kitesuriers had 1.{l bcrescue(i altcr bcillg cxughl intwo sepantu dp$ off Ctrl-otrndra.'fhe conditions \Yerecaused by king tidcs vltichforced closure of scveralbeaches.