Man dead after boat flips off Sydney’s northern beaches, search under way for missing teen

A man has died and a teenage boy is missing after a small boat carrying three people flipped in large swell near Palm Beach on Wednesday morning.

Emergency services were called to the northern end of Palm Beach at 11.35am following reports the dinghy had flipped on the rocks. Reports to emergency responders suggested there were two men and a teenager on the boat.

Two rescue helicopters and a police chopper rushed to the scene, a police boat and jet skis were deployed to the area, and several ambulance and police vehicles arrived at the foreshore.

One man, who is yet to be identified, was declared dead at the scene after he was pulled from the water by surf lifesavers.

Officers continue to search for a 14-year-old boy believed to have been a passenger on the boat, with assistance from a police helicopter and marine authorities.

Paramedics found another man on the rocks, about 25 metres from the upturned boat, bleeding from lacerations on his left leg.

Ropes and life vests could be seen under the boat and floating between the rocks.

He was winched from the rocks into a rescue helicopter, before being lowered onto a nature clearing near the foreshore car park for treatment. He has been taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.

The investigation into the “tragic boating incident” was in its infancy and police could not confirm any relationship between the trio, NSW Police Acting Inspector Nicole Taylor said on Wednesday afternoon.

Surf Life Saving NSW Sydney Northern Beaches president Rod McGibbon said Palm Beach was patrolled at the time, and council lifeguards and volunteer lifesavers responded quickly to the incident, and said it was “part of the reason we were able to save one of those people.

“But big conditions today, and clearly difficult conditions,” he said.

“It’s New Year’s Eve, it’s never a great time for something of this nature to occur.”

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