Local park becomes scene of tragedy in NSW

Ryan Teasdale, 11, was playing with friends and his brother when he got sucked into a stormwater drain on the NSW south coast. His body has been recovered.

Ryan Teasdale, 11, was playing with friends when he got sucked into a stormwater drain. (AAP)

WHAT HAPPENED?

* Ryan Teasdale, 11, sucked into a drain at the bottom of Riley Park in Unanderra in Wollongong while bodyboarding down the hill with his older brother and friends on Thursdayy afternoon

* The stormwater drain has no grate and is around 60cm wide

* More than 100 people including emergency services and volunteers searched for him till 1am, and then from dawn

WHERE WAS RYAN WAS FOUND?

* Ryan's body was found about 11.15am on Friday in a creek bed about 500m from Riley Park

* His boogie-board was found down from the park but didn't go through the drain

COULD HIS DEATH HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?

* Ryan's death has raised questions as to whether the drain should be covered by grates but the council says a grate could cause flooding in nearby homes

WHAT PEOPLE SAID?

* "It is with great sadness that I tell you that we have located the body of a young boy ... You can imagine how the family are" - police superintendent Zoran Dzevlan.

* "The message is don't go into stormwater, avoid it. We don't know the depth of it, we don't know the volume of it or the speed but also what's in it" - Wollongong mayor Gordon Bradbery

* "We saw them, about 20 kids with their boogie boards, it's something kids do there all the time. So devastating," one woman wrote on Facebook

* "OMG I know the park and has dangerous areas around it, a bridge over creek", another woman wrote on Facebook