Search scaled back at Coogee for popular local bartender

2 months ago 19

Rescue teams have scaled back their search on Saturday morning for a Nepalese man swept out to sea at Coogee Beach on New Year’s Day, while colleagues praised the missing man as a “top guy”.

For two days, helicopters, several boats, a drone and surf lifesavers assisted divers in scouring nearby waters for Sushan Khadka, a student and bartender at the Coogee Pavilion in his 20s, who arrived in Australia about four years ago from Nepal.

The search sontinues for a swimmer missing after being swept out to sea at Coogee on New Year’s morning.

Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said on Friday the “significant show of force” at Coogee was focused on finding Khadka alive.

Investigators dropped green dye marker at the southern end of Coogee about 10am, as several divers tracked the currents while lifesavers on jet-skis crisscrossed the ocean.

But the search was scaled back on Saturday morning to foot patrols along the shoreline.

A staff member at Coogee Pavilion, who asked not to be named, said Khadka was a “top guy”.

“It’s really hard to process, with the search still going on. Awful. He was dedicated, a top guy.”

Khadka was among three people caught in a powerful rip after 6am on Thursday. The other two were rescued by off-duty lifesavers, while a police constable ran into the water fully clothed to try to save the submerged man as nearby swimmers attempted to keep him afloat.

A police officer and another rescuer dive into the ocean at Coogee Beach.

Rescuers were unable to bring him to shore, triggering a large search that continued into Thursday evening and was complicated by extreme surf conditions.

The rescue shocked hundreds of onlookers gathered by the Coogee foreshore to welcome the new year, as some swimmers were treated for shock after returning to the sand.

The Nepalese consulate confirmed it had been in contact with Khadka’s family after he went missing, and said it was monitoring the situation.

It came as a 45-year-old woman drowned on a NSW Mid North Coast beach on Thursday afternoon, while a 25-year-old woman was found dead after being pulled into the water near Maroubra Beach in the early hours of the new year.

Melissa Austin, 45, was pulled from the water at Dunbogan Beach, south of Port Macquarie, shortly before 3pm on Thursday. She could not be revived despite treatment from paramedics and police.

The body of the 25-year-old woman, who is believed to be a Chinese national, was discovered about 5am on Thursday, about an hour after she was struck by a wave and knocked into the Mahon rock pool before being pulled into the ocean.

The death in Maroubra came one day after a man died at Palm Beach after his small boat flipped in large swell and landed on nearby rocks shortly after midday.

A 14-year-old boy who was a passenger on the boat remains missing and a search for him continued on Thursday afternoon. Police scaled back search efforts for the teenager on Friday morning, with maritime and police sweep searches the sole response on Palm Beach.

Another man who was on the boat was hospitalised after he was discovered on a nearby rock platform with significant injuries to his left leg. He was winched from the rocks by a rescue helicopter.

Mahon Pool, Maroubra, on New Year’s morning.

Authorities believe there were three people in the boat at the time of the accident, but were unable to confirm any relationship between the trio.

Pearce said surf lifesavers were monitoring two serious incidents in the Wollongong area on Friday afternoon, as he urged people to exercise caution in the surf over the New Year period.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib thanked agencies and volunteers who responded to the spate of incidents.

“Many have already been working long hours in very challenging and unpredictable conditions,” Dib said.

“I cannot stress enough that people should follow advice of emergency services and stay out of the water when beaches are closed.”

Waves on the Sydney coastline were reaching over three metres on Thursday, according to meteorologist Jiwon Park, who forecast the swell to ease on Friday.

“Sydney is currently reporting the highest waves … [but] these conditions can hit all over the coast,” Park said.

Pearce was concerned that NSW had entered a “horrific period” as he lamented what appeared to be “four separate drowning deaths” on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We were hoping to start the year [with] a fantastic, fresh start; 2025 was extremely tumultuous for all the emergency services,” he said.

A man died and a teenager is missing after a boat flipped near Palm Beach on Wednesday.

“Today I can’t stand here and say happy new year because there are families whose lives are irreparably damaged from the last 24 hours.”

The conditions continued to pose a threat to beachgoers on Thursday, including four people who got in trouble in the water at Narrawallee Inlet on the state’s South Coast about noon.

A woman in her 50s was taken to Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital in Nowra, with other patients taken to the smaller Milton Hospital, a NSW Ambulance spokesperson said.

A man in his 40s who jumped off a jetty at Shoal Bay in the Hunter region about 12.30pm was flown to Royal North Shore Hospital in a serious condition with back and spine injuries.

Surf lifesavers have performed 85 rescues since Christmas Day, a spike that Pearce said had “caught everyone off guard”.

Fire and Rescue NSW was undertaking a separate rescue on Friday afternoon after a man, thought to be in his 80s, fell off a cliff next to Parriwi Road in Mosman.

The man was conscious and clinging to a steep slope while emergency crews arrived around 5pm.

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