Heartstopping moment teen lifesaver rescues three beachgoers at Warriewood Blowhole – as the REAL reason so many people are drowning at Australian beaches is revealed

A teenage surf lifesaver is declared a hero after battling huge swells and jagged rocks to save a boy stranded in a cave. The depressing reason why so many adults drown is revealed.

A 15-year-old boy suffered a head injury while cliff jumping at Warriewood Blowhole on Sydney’s northern beaches on Sunday.

He became stranded in the cave below the spot popular with teenage adventure seekers, as huge waves crashed against the rocks.

Dramatic footage of the incident shows two of the injured boy’s friends tried to reach him before a 16-year-old surf lifesaver named Saskia Rundle-Trowbridge battled the pounding swell to pull all three back to safety on Warriewood Beach.

“The waves were quite big, especially when I came in,” Saskia told 9News.

“I was blown into the rocks and my rescue lanyard got stuck on a rock.”

Saskia told me ABC her “only mission was to get these boys to safety and make sure everything was okay.”

“My whole team, my driver and the rest of the team on the beach with the radios, they were amazing,” she added.

“We use this volunteer service to do those kinds of things, keep the beach safe and keep people safe. That’s the goal, just to keep everyone safe.”

It is just one of more than 3,000 rescues carried out by hero Surf Life Savers on the Australian coast this summer.

It comes as new data shows adults, not children, are most at risk of drowning during the school holidays.

Adam Weir, CEO of Surf Life Saving Australia, suggested this is because social media-obsessed adults seek out isolated places to take photos and get into trouble.

One of the boy’s friends launched himself into the water to save him (photo)

A 16-year-old surf lifesaver named Saskia (pictured) battled the pounding swell to get all three boys back to safety at Warriewood Beach

“People want to be where they see on social media: they’re looking for that perfect photo, they want to be on that secluded sandy beach,” Mr Weir told the newspaper. Sydney Morning Herald.

‘Over the summer I saw a number of articles listing the ‘top 10 beaches to visit’, but some were unsupervised.

‘We encourage people to go to these beautiful places, but we have to take the water risks into account.’

All 54 drownings in Australia last summer occurred at locations where no lifeguards or volunteers were present.

While drownings increased across all age groups during the school holidays, the increase was most prominent among adults, according to research published by Surf Life Saving Australia last week in the international journal Injury Prevention.

The desire to visit isolated spots to get the ‘perfect photo’ for social media is leading to a rise in adult drowning deaths, according to the country’s top surf lifesaver

There have been 33 coastal drowning deaths since the start of this summer, compared to 26 by this time in the 2023 season

“The risk for children was consistent throughout the year, while in adults we saw an increase in risk around school holidays,” researcher and study co-author Dr. Jaz Lawes to the newspaper.

Someone trying to save someone else before drowning himself was responsible for the second highest number of deaths.

“There is a sad trend of adults drowning when they go to rescue a loved one, and this often happens on unguarded beaches,” said UNSW injury prevention researcher Dr Amy Peden.

On January 6, father-of-six Michael Sneddon drowned at Ettalong Beach on the Central Coast while trying to save his 10-year-old son after they were both stuck in a rip.

Mr Weir called for better information campaigns and greater use of drone technology in remote areas.

There have been 33 coastal drowning deaths since the start of this summer, compared to 26 by this time in the 2023 season.