Three people drowned as emergency services rushed to a beach in Phillip Island southeast of Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon, Australian Eastern Time (early morning UTC).
According to local media, authorities were called to Forrest Caves beach where three women and a man were pulled from the water unresponsive.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said that three of the four people - a man in his 40s and two women in their 20s - were administered CPR but were pronounced dead at the scene, while a third woman, also in her 20s, was airlifted to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
A report would also be prepared for the local coroner.
Authorities in the state of Victoria said that the three drowning fatalities took the state's total death toll to 19 since the start of the Australian summer period on December 1, 2023.
This is a developing story. Please follow HNGN for more updates.
