A 20-year-old man has drowned after he was reported missing off Fingal Head on the NSW far north coast on Sunday afternoon.
Fellow swimmers at the beach raised the alarm for the bodyboarder just before lunchtime after he got into trouble and became separated from his board.
Emergency services responded to reports of a distressed man in the water and began conducting a frantic two-hour search of the area.
Police were told the man attempted to climb onto rocks after he lost his board.
Distressed onlookers watched from the beach as surf lifesavers on jetskis and boats desperately searched the water, while a helicopter scanned the surf from above.
Just after 1.30pm, a body was pulled from the surf and NSW Ambulance paramedics commenced CPR, but the man was unable to be revived.
The man, believed to be a local, was located about 200m away from where he went missing, Surf Life Saving NSW far north coast duty officer Chris Samuels said.
Emergency services have pulled someone from the Surf at Fingal - believed to be missing 20YO body boarder @9NewsQueensland pic.twitter.com/cqUMqbuKti??? Phoebe Moore (@phoebe_moore) October 22, 2017
His board was found floating in the water away from where he was found.
Mr Samuels praised volunteers who conducted the search.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said a report would be prepared for the coroner.
