Emergency services will resume a search for a man who disappeared in the surf alongside two others on the NSW mid-north coast.
Two men, 35 and 45, drowned off Moonee Beach north of Coffs Harbour on Monday and three teenagers were pulled from the water without serious injury.
However a 28-year-old man has not been found.
Emergency services called off their search after sunset amid deteriorating conditions. The search resumed early Tuesday morning.
Police are working to establish if the group were a family on holiday - they are believed to all know each other and reside in Sydney's west.
Coffs Harbour City Council lifeguard coordinator Greg Hackfath told Nine News that Moonee Beach is unpatrolled and Moonee Creek which feeds it has a "strong flowing outgoing tide".
He suspected the three teenagers had gone swimming in the creek and got into trouble, prompting the three adults to try to help them.
"We found one of the girls alive, two of the younger teenagers got in by themselves and self-rescued," he said.
"Unfortunately, we found two men that were deceased and yeah, one is still missing out there."
