A 21-year-old man has died while swimming in a river on Canberra’s southern edge, bringing the number of drowning deaths around Australia in December alone to 32.
The man was swimming in the Murrumbidgee river at Pine Island reserve, near Tuggeranong, with family and friends on Sunday afternoon but failed to resurface.
Emergency services responded to calls for help at 6pm and found the man’s body at the popular swimming spot after a two-hour search.
While the death was the Australian Capital Territory’s first in December, it was the nation’s 32nd reported drowning death in the month to Sunday evening, according to Royal Life Saving Australia data.
December 2024’s death toll is now equal that of the same period in 2023, with the greatest share recorded in New South Wales, with 10, followed by Queensland, at eight.
Western Australia’s total deaths had reached seven, after Mohammad Swapan, 44, and his 40-year-old wife Sabrina Ahmed were unable to be revived on Saturday after being pulled from a rip at a Conspicuous Cliff beach near Walpole, 430km south of Perth.
The Perth couple were on holiday with other families over the Christmas break and had rushed into the water in an attempt to rescue their two daughters from a rip, according to the Dhaka Tribune.
Their daughters were unharmed but a 42-year-old man who knew the couple and had also dived in was treated at the scene and taken to hospital by St John Ambulance.
Swapan was an associate professor in urban planning at Curtin University while Ahmed also worked in planning with the Western Australian government and had received a PhD from Curtin this year according to her LinkedIn.
Ruhul Salim, a friend of the couple and colleague at Curtin University, told Nine News that Perth’s Bangladeshi community was grieving alongside the couple’s daughters.
“Those girls, oh my god, I feel – you know, sobbing,” he said.
“The community will seriously miss this couple. There has been a huge tribute and condolences since [Saturday].”
Another of Swapan’s colleagues, social planning expert Ash Alam, praised his “good friend” and “wonderful collaborator” and expressed hope for the two daughters, who he said were 14 and 10 years old.
“May they find the strength to overcome this difficult time,” he wrote on social media. “It is a tremendous loss for our community.”
Tasmania recorded its first drowning of the summer on Sunday afternoon after a man died after struggling with strong currents at Carlton Beach.
The risk of drowning quadruples in Australia over the summer break, as beachgoers increasingly avoid crowded patrolled beaches and swim after consuming alcohol or drugs, Surf Life Saving Australia chief executive, Adam Weir, said.
“In order to enjoy our beaches, we want to make sure people are only swimming at patrolled beaches and make safety their top priority,” he said.
“The drowning risk is more than four times higher during the summer public holidays which is a result of people taking more risks.”
Royal Life Saving Australia general manager of capability, RJ Houston, on Sunday said drowning deaths in 2024 were overwhelmingly male, accounting for about two-thirds of the lives lost in December.
“Blokes in particular need to look out for themselves around water and be aware of their limitations,” he said.
Men accounted for four in every five drowning deaths in Australia in the year to June 2024, over which time the total deaths reached 323 people, the second highest level in more than 20 years.
Additional reporting from AAP
