A 70-year-old British tourist was found dead, believed drowned, near the Brunswick Heads surf club yesterday (March 12).
Beachgoers saw the man floating in the water about 250 metres south of the the surf club and brought him to shore where they commenced CPR.
It is the second discovery of a body on Brunswick Heads beach in a fortnight.
A 000 call was received around 9.30am and a surf rescue emergency response system was activated.
Surf lifesavers from the club were called out, along with police and ambulance.
The man was declared dead by ambulance officers after being unable to be revived.
Surf Life Saving NSW (SLS) told Echonetdaily it is unclear whether the man drowned or succumbed to an underlying medical condition.
An SLS spokesperson said he was a British tourist in his 70s, who had only arrived in Australia in the last few days.
Northern emergency coordinator Jimmy Keough said the surf conditions in the area are very unstable, possibly due to the effects of cyclone activity further north in Queensland.
‘The surf conditions are treacherous at the moment and there are strong rips appearing along much of the northern NSW coastline,’ said Mr Keough.
‘Our hearts go out to the family and friends of this man and we’d encourage people to exercise caution if entering the water at unpatrolled locations.’
At this time of the year Brunswick Heads is patrolled on weekends only by volunteer surf lifesavers.
Byron Bay main beach is currently patrolled by the Australian Lifeguard Service on weekdays and by volunteer lifesavers on weekends.
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