Two women are dead and a search continues for a missing man after a series of New Year’s Day water emergencies.

The tragic start to 2026 began on eastern Sydney beaches when emergency services were called to Maroubra Beach at 4am on Thursday.

Witnesses told police a 25-year-old woman, believed to be a Chinese national, had been hit by a wave that knocked her into a tidal rock pool before further waves swept her into the Pacific Ocean.

The woman was found at 5am and could not be resuscitated.

At nearby Coogee Beach, surf lifesavers on jet skis were searching for a missing swimmer after emergency services were alerted just after 6am on Thursday.

TV news footage showed a fully clothed police officer entering the water to try to save the man, 25. Two other people were rescued.

The search for the missing swimmer was to continue on Friday, but there are grave fears for the man’s survival.

Then, on Thursday afternoon, a woman, 45, was pulled from the water off Dunbogan Beach, at Dunbogan on the NSW mid north coast, but could not be revived.

Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce pleaded with people to be careful entering the water.

“Already we have seen tragedy unfold that will ripple across so many families and so many first responders,” he said on Thursday.

Since Christmas Day, NSW surf lifesavers have performed more than 85 rescues.

On the NSW Central Coast, the Westpac rescue helicopter was sent to Avoca Beach to retrieve a man pulled unconscious from the water by two off-duty lifesavers at 6.45pm on New Year’s Eve.

“Fortunately … they were medical practitioners from a nearby hospital, so this gentleman has the best chance of survival,” Pearce said.

The 50-year-old was flown to Royal North Shore Hospital in a serious condition.

Further north in Queensland’s Whitsundays, a 35-year-old Irish man was found dead in the water on New Year’s Eve at Whitehaven Beach.

He is believed to have drowned, with police to prepare a report for the coroner.

The incidents follow the death of a man in Sydney on New Year’s Eve after a dinghy capsized at Palm Beach.

Two men and a 14-year-old boy were in the vessel when it overturned in rough conditions around Barrenjoey Headland about 11.35am.

A man was pulled from the water by surf lifesavers and treated by paramedics, but he died at the scene. The second man was winched to safety by helicopter.

A large-scale search continues for the teenager.

Lifeguards rescued two children at Puckey’s Beach on New Year’s Eve. One required CPR and both were taken to hospital.

At Broulee, a father and three children were rescued by surfers and in Royal National Park, a group of children were rescued by bystanders.

“This spate of rescues and drownings has just caught everyone off guard,” Pearce said.

Over the New Year period, the risk of drowning is three times greater than at any other time of the year.

“Yet because of the conditions and the inclement weather, lifeguards and lifesavers – although we had everyone out in force – just did not expect this swathe of drownings and rescues,” Pearce said.

-AAP