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Rescuers lose hope of finding boy swept off rocks at Central Coast beach alive ‘We can’t believe it’s real’: Luca Bennett’s parents mourn loss of ‘perfect son’ swept off rocks at NSW beach
(about 2 hours later)
Search operation for missing 15-year-old moves into ‘recovery phase’ as resources are scaled back, NSW police say Search operation for 15-year-old moves into ‘recovery phase’ after he went missing at North Avoca Beach on the Central Coast
Rescuers have lost hope of finding alive a teenage boy who was swept off rocks at a popular beach. Tributes are flowing in for 15-year-old Luca Bennett as rescue crews scale back a search for the teenager after he was swept off rocks at a popular beach.
The 15-year-old went missing around on Christmas Eve off North Avoca beach on the NSW Central Coast. Luca Bennett went missing about 3pm on Christmas Eve off North Avoca Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast.
Jetskis and helicopters were deployed in the area around North Avoca beach as part of the search that included Surf Life Saving NSW, ambulances, police, and local surf life-savers, after two friends of the 15-year-old managed to scramble to shore after being swept by the same wave and alerted authorities shortly after 3pm on Tuesday. The 15-year-old aspiring basketballer was one of three teenagers swept from the rocks and into the sea when the group was hit by a wave.
Two of the boys scrambled back onto the rocks, before raising the alarm.
Search efforts on Christmas Day involving police, NSW Ambulance, Surf Life Saving NSW, Central Coast Council Lifeguards and a rescue helicopter failed to find Luca.
Police on Thursday morning said rescue crews had moved “into a recovery phase with resources being scaled back” following expert advice.
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However, search efforts over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day failed to find the young man. Tributes were being posted online for the Central Coast teen as his family paid tribute to their “perfect son”.
NSW police say following expert advice from 6am on Thursday “the operation will move into a recovery phase with resources being scaled back”. Parents Michelle and Jason thanked rescue crews and the community for helping to search for Luca.
Jason Hicks, a North Avoca resident, told the Sydney Morning Herald the boys who were swimming with the missing teenager as well as surfers nearby “were visibly upset”. “Yesterday we lost our darling beloved Luca J,” the teenager’s mother wrote in a Facebook post.
“There was one guy who tried to jump in and rescue [him] and he was visibly beside himself,” he said. “Everyone is doing the best they can to search for him and bring him home to us ... we are so grateful.
“It just happened so quick I think, but all the services were here in a matter of minutes. It was just incredible how fast they responded, and all the surf life-savers were unbelievable jumping in and trying to find him,” Hicks told the Sydney Morning Herald. “He was the most perfect son and we can’t believe it’s real.”
Photos posted online showed friends gathering on Christmas Day to honour the missing teenager beneath a tribute etched onto a rock face.
“Luca Bennett 2009-2024. Forever 15,” it read.
Inspector Benjamin Campbell of Brisbane Water Police District described the accident as a “very tragic incident”, adding his heart went out to the family.
“It’s just a timely reminder of how dangerous the rocks can be around the ocean and how everyone has to be really careful,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Emergency services, including police and surf life savers as well as volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW, had been searching in choppy conditions and a swell of up to three metres since the teenager was reported missing.
Authorities are calling for more caution after a separate incident, just 15 minutes south of Avoca Beach, saw another man fall off a rock face on Christmas Day.
The man in his 30s fell several metres onto a rock shelf at Winnie Bay at Copacabana suffering several fractures and requiring emergency rescue.
He was winched out by helicopter rescue and taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.
Meanwhile, a 12-year-old boy reported missing after heading out to go fishing at Warana on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Christmas Day has been found safe and well.