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Two young girls are lucky to be alive after almost drowning on a popular beach in front of shocked onlookers.
The two friends, both aged five, were pulled from the water by their parents at Perth's Ngarkal Beach, near Port Coogee Marina, on Wednesday.
The pair had been trying to retrieve goggles from deep water when they found themselves in trouble and pushed each other beneath the surface in panic.
Beachgoers were unaware of the life-threatening emergency until they heard their parents' frantic screams for help after the girls were dragged to shore in what was nearly Perth's second drowning in days.
Perth's Ngarkal Beach almost became the scene of another tragic drowning on Wednesday. Young beachgoers are pictured after the terrifying emergency
“They came by and asked us to get the defibrillator,” Adrian Hills said Nine news.
He and his wife rushed to a St. John defibrillator located outside the nearby Navy office.
When they returned, the couple helped keep the girls calm until the ambulance arrived.
“They had already vomited up quite a bit of water so by the time we got there they were quite shocked,” Mr Hills added.
His wife Jennifer told Seven News: 'I just wanted to keep her talking.'
“It's hard to tell a five-year-old to stay awake, so I just asked her what she had for Christmas and it's an easy conversation.”
'I'm no hero, anyone would have done the same.'
Ngarkal Beach at North Coogee in the south of Perth is a popular swimming spot.
Signs in the center of the swimming spot warn of a drop-off into deep water.
Beachgoers were unaware of the developing life-threatening emergency until the girls' parents screamed for help
Ngarkal Beach is a popular spot for swimmers and paddle boarders near Port Coogee Marina
Beachgoers were initially unaware of the terrifying ordeal that unfolded within seconds.
“I didn't see anything, it was very quiet because that's what happens when children drown,” Mr Hills said.
“There's not really much raw; they can go down, and then you don't hear anything.'
The girls were taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital in a stable condition.
The near-drowning occurred just three days after two young children drowned in the Swan River during New Year's Eve celebrations.
A four-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy were pulled unconscious from the river at nearby Burswood Park, where families had gathered to call 2024.
Both children died several hours later in hospital.
An independent investigation into the tragedy has been launched.
Perth is also mourning the death of Sonny Skrzypek 6, who tragically drowned with his four-year-old nephew while on holiday in New Zealand.
The boys were staying at their grandmother's farm in Peria, in the far north of New Zealand, when the vehicle they were riding in hit a boulder and fell into a stream.
The near-drowning occurred just three days after two young children tragically drowned in Perth's Swan River (emergency vehicles pictured at the scene)
According to Royal Life Saving Australia, there have been 40 drownings across Australia since the start of December, compared to 34 this time last year.
Of the 90 people who drowned during the summer of 2022-2023, a quarter occurred between Christmas and New Year.
A woman became entangled in a rip and drowned in front of family members at Coffs Harbour's Park Beach on the NSW north coast on Tuesday evening.
Irish tourist John Holland, 63, was on the 'holiday of a lifetime' visiting his daughter when he drowned on Victoria's Hutt Gully Beach, south of Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road.