Boy, 9, drowns at South West Rocks after man dies at Wattamolla beach in horror Easter death toll

Police are yet to identify the father formally. His 14-year-old son was taken to the Children’s Hospital at Randwick, where he is in a stable condition. The pair were not wearing lifejackets.

Seven people in NSW and Victoria have now died in the surf since Good Friday, while two more people are missing.

Strong swell battered the east coast over the long weekend, causing dangerous conditions in the water along the NSW coast and into Victoria.

“This is the worst Easter long weekend that we have seen on our records here for NSW,” said Pearce. “It’s been the perfect storm with high temperatures … hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers venturing out, and an absolutely enormous swell impacting the entire NSW coastline.”

Volunteer lifesavers and lifeguards have performed more than 150 rescues on the NSW coast across the long weekend, with 50 of them on Sunday.

While the swell, temperatures and sunny weather are expected to ease up on Monday and many more beaches are reopening, Pearce said people need to be conscious about where they are swimming. Swimmers in unpatrolled areas are advised to bring a flotation device.

On Friday, a body was found in the harbour off Middle Head Point, Mosman, after emergency services were called to assist a man in the water about 10.20am. Police believe the man had been standing on rocks at the harbour’s edge when he fell into the water. He is yet to be formally identified.

Earlier on Friday, a 58-year-old fisherman died after being swept into the water in Wollongong Harbour overnight. Police believe the man was fishing on a rock wall nearby when he was swept into the water.

In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a multi-agency search operation started about 1pm after reports that a man was struggling in the water off Little Bay Beach. The search was later suspended.

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Shortly after 3pm, the third fatality of the day was confirmed – a fisherman washed off rocks near Eden on NSW’s South Coast.

In Victoria, one woman died and another man went missing after being swept into the sea in San Remo, also on Friday.

On Saturday, a rock fisherman was swept into the sea at Kianinny Bay, near Tathra on the NSW South Coast, at 8.15am on Saturday. His body was found two hours later.

The search for the man off Little Bay resumed on Saturday and continued on Sunday unsuccessfully.

The weather bureau said swells on Saturday were up to 3.5 metres high. Calm returned to some beaches on Sunday. The Bureau of Meteorology cancelled its hazardous surf warnings for Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie coasts at midnight on Sunday.

Marine wind warnings remained in place for the NSW South Coast.

“We were definitely preparing all our capability for what was going to be operationally busy, and we were focusing [on] the beaches, and particularly the amount of people we thought would be streaming into the uncontrolled locations, where we don’t have lifesavers or lifeguards,” said Pearce.

“But we just didn’t expect the amount of people that have lost their lives [from] being washed off rock platforms, rock shoals, and rock fishing in general.