KEY POINTS
- Police are preparing a report for the coroner after the death of a 19-year-old from drowning at a Victorian beach.
- He had been bodysurfing with two other people on Christmas Day before disaster struck.
- Surf Life Rescue performed CPR, but the 19-year-old died on the beach.
A teenager has drowned and two other men have been hospitalised after running into trouble in dangerous surf.
The three were bodysurfing at Cumberland River Beach, just south of Lorne on Victoria's Surf Coast, when one got into difficulty just before 6pm on Sunday night.
The two others tried to assist but also found themselves in trouble.
All three managed to make it back to shore but collapsed.
An off-duty Victorian police officer and a bystander tried to help before police and Surf Life Rescue performed CPR.
The 19-year-old man died at the scene.
A 20-year-old man was airlifted to The Alfred hospital where he is believed to be in a stable condition.
The 25-year-old man was taken by road to Geelong University Public Hospital where he is also understood to be stable.
All three of the men are believed to be from the suburb of St Albans in Melbourne's west.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Nationally, 141 people drowned between June last year and July this year - the highest number since 2004.
In Victoria, 53 people died during the 2021-22 financial year. The drowning rate of 0.81 per 100,000 people is still 18 per cent higher than the 10-year average.
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