Search operation for 15-year-old moves into ‘recovery phase’ after he went missing at North Avoca Beach on the Central Coast
Tributes are flowing for 15-year-old Luca Bennett as rescue crews scale back a search for the teenager after he was swept off rocks at a popular beach.
Luca went missing about 3pm on Christmas Eve off North Avoca Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast.
The aspiring basketballer was one of three teenagers swept from the rocks and into the sea when the group was hit by a wave.
Two of the boys scrambled back on to the rocks, before raising the alarm.
Search efforts on Christmas Day involving police, NSW Ambulance, Surf Life Saving NSW, Central Coast Council Lifeguards and a rescue helicopter failed to find Luca.
Police on Thursday morning said rescue crews had moved “into a recovery phase with resources being scaled back” after receiving expert advice.
Tributes were being posted online for the Central Coast teen as his family mourned their “perfect son”.
Parents Michelle and Jason thanked rescue crews and the community for helping to search for Luca.
“Yesterday we lost our darling beloved Luca J,” his mother wrote in a Facebook post.
“Everyone is doing the best they can to search for him and bring him home to us … we are so grateful.
“He was the most perfect son and we can’t believe it’s real.”
Photos posted online showed friends gathering on Christmas Day to honour the missing teenager beneath a tribute etched onto a rock face.
“Luca Bennett 2009-2024. Forever 15,” it read.
InspBenjamin Campbell of Brisbane Water Police District described the accident as a “very tragic incident”, adding his heart went out to the family.
“It’s just a timely reminder of how dangerous the rocks can be around the ocean and how everyone has to be really careful,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Emergency services, including police and surf life savers as well as volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW, had been searching in choppy conditions and a swell of up to three metres since the teenager was reported missing.
Authorities are calling for more caution after a separate incident, just 15 minutes south of Avoca Beach, saw another man fall off a rock face on Christmas Day.
The man in his 30s fell several metres onto a rock shelf at Winnie Bay at Copacabana, suffering several fractures and requiring emergency rescue.
He was winched out by helicopter rescue and taken to Royal North Shore hospital.
Meanwhile, a 12-year-old boy reported missing after going fishing at Warana on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Christmas Day has been found safe and well.
