Lifeguards were seen desperately carrying swimmers to shore via jetskis at Manly Beach this morning after a shark alarm sparked a panicked evacuation.
The frightening incident took place on Thursday morning at the popular beach at the same time as a group of swimmers were completing their daily Manly to Shelly Beach swim.
A witness told news.com.au lifesavers scrambled to alert oblivious swimmers to the danger and had “desperately” towed many to the shoreline on jetskis in a frantic effort to prevent injury.
“I heard the shark alarm go off, I looked up and I saw the jetski hanging around the swimmers,” a beachgoer told news.com.au.
“It looked like he was driving up to all the swimmers and talking to them, they all started piling onto the jetski
“There were six or so people that climbed up onto the jetski and he started to drive them back to shore.”
The witness said despite the obvious danger, some swimmers continued to ignore the frantic efforts of lifesavers to evacuate the water.
“After [the lifeguard] dropped them off he continued to warn the swimmers to go to shore, some people just kept swimming – the lifeguard was driving right next to them and yelling and whistling,” the witness said.
“They didn’t realise he was there, he was probably a couple of feet away from them. There were still people just swimming
“By the time I got back to the beach all the surfers had left the beach – it was just empty.”
More to come