A relaxing beach day in Adelaide has ended in tragedy after a dad drowned while trying to save his young daughter who had been swept offshore.
The 49-year-old Seaton man jumped into the water at the popular Grange Beach on Thursday morning to rescue his daughter as she began drifting out to sea on an inflatable tube.
The girl was blown offshore before the tide began taking her slowly out to deeper water.
Witnesses quickly sprung into action and raced to help.
Onlooker Michael Napper, 70, had been in the water with his grandchildren when he watched the situation unfold.
“The little daughter jumped off the tube into his arms in deep water and he was trying to save her,” Mr Napper told 7 NEWS.
“It was too deep. He was holding her out of the water and the water was above his head and when I looked around he was floating.”
Mr Napper used his body board to paddle out and drag the father and daughter from the water.
He said the young girl had been crying from distress, while the tube she had been floating on was swept away by strong winds.
“By the time I got to (her dad) he was under water and the next thing he was floating,” Mr Napper said.
“So I grabbed him by the trousers and turned him over and got him above the water and then I swam in.”
The man was pulled from the water with the help of other witnesses.
Two beachgoers performed CPR on the father before paramedics arrived to the scene.
He was treated for more than an hour on the sand but he could not be revived.
Mr Napper refuses to call himself a hero, saying he wishes he got to the pair sooner.
Surf Life Saving SA‘s Daniel Willetts said the state’s coast had seen four coastal drownings in the past six weeks and warned against the use of inflatable toys at beaches.
“Already today we have seen two incidents of that nature today and that has resulted in the assistance of emergency services. So we urge people, do not take your pool toys to the beach,” Mr Willetts said on Thursday.
“If you find yourself in a sudden offshore wind, you’ll be swept out to sea and you’ll find yourself in difficulty.”
