Australia has experienced a spike in drowning deaths in the summer of 2020/2021 after fitness levels plunged during Covid lockdowns, a top lifesaver has warned.
At least 55 people have died as a result of drowning this summer alone, compared to just 43 at this time last year.
According to Liam Krige, the general manager at Life Saving Victoria, the staggering amount of drowning deaths this season is done to dwindling fitness and a blase attitude to the dangers. The sad reality is that people think it s not going to happen to them, or that they don t need to worry about it, Mr Krige told The Age.
Hero police officer Kelly Foster farewelled after Blue Mountains whirlpool death
ThuThursday 14
updated
ThuThursday 14
JanJanuary 2021 at 1:41pm
Police and community members have lined the streets of Lithgow to farewell Senior Constable Kelly Foster.
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Mourners have lined the streets of Lithgow, New South Wales, to bid farewell to highly regarded and dedicated police officer Kelly Foster.
Key points:
Senior Constable Kelly Foster died after she was sucked into a whirlpool while canyoning in the NSW Blue Mountains
It is believed she was attempting to save a 24-year-old international student, who also drowned
Mourners have lined the streets of Lithgow, where she was stationed, to pay their respects at her funeral today
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Lithgow s main street was lined with blue balloons as mourners gathered outside the Uniting Church to farewell one of a kind Senior Constable Kelly Foster who died in Wollangambe Canyon, in the Blue Mountains this month.
Senior Constable Foster was an avid bushwalker who loved the outdoors. It was this love of the outdoors that took her on the canyoning trip on January 2.
During the guided tour, the 39-year-old was sucked underwater as she tried to help Jennifer Qi, a 24-year-old international student who had been tipped off her inflatable lilo when it was swept into a whirlpool.
Kelly Foster has been remembered as a loving daughter, sister, partner and friend.
An international student, 24, and a policewoman have drowned in the NSW Blue Mountains, with witnesses reporting the heroic officer was trying to save the student from a whirlpool.
The bodies of Senior Constable Kelly Foster, 39, and the younger woman were recovered on Sunday about midday after they went missing at Wollangambe Canyon yesterday.
Witnesses said Senior Constable Foster tried to rescue the younger woman after her inflatable lilo was swept in by a whirlpool, tipping her off and into the water.
But she was also swept into the whirlpool as she tried to haul out the stricken tourist.
Their friends attempted to save the pair by throwing a rope towards them but they failed to surface.