Tragic Boat Incident At 6-Foot D-Bah Leaves One Man Dead, Another Hospitalised - Stab Mag

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Wrong place, wrong time, wrong swell, wrong tide. Photo: About Town, Coolangatta

Tragic Boat Incident At 6-Foot D-Bah Leaves One Man Dead, Another Hospitalised

Today ain’t the day for boating.

news // Jul 13, 2024
Words by Jack O'Neill Paterson
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Early this morning, as six-foot offshore peaks peppered the QLD-NSW oceanic border, a 6.5m half-cabin runabout capsized while attempting to cross the Tweed River Bar. 

Emergency services responded to reports of two men clinging to the overturned hull. One man was rescued and taken to Tweed Heads Hospital, while the second, winched lifeless from the ocean by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew, couldn’t be revived. 

The two men reportedly launched in the dark from the Kennedy Drive boat ramp around low-tide, which is said to be the worst time to do so, and were promptly upended by a wave.  

The entire incident went down before 6am. 

Meanwhile, just around the corner…

The east coast points have been lighting up over the last couple of days, with the swell peaking this morning. What possessed the two men to attempt to punch through an unpredictable and shifting Dbah on a small fishing boat before sunrise, remains an ill-fated mystery.  

At the time of rescue, neither men were said to be wearing life jackets. 

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