Mill Park, Australia
Victoria police say two men have drowned while swimming at the lake on Redleap Reserve at Mill Park in Melbourne. Photograph: Nigel Killeen/Getty Images
Bodies of teenager and man in his 30s, who police say were affected by alcohol, retrieved from lake on Redleap Reserve
The men – one aged 19 and the other in his 30s – quickly got into trouble in the lake on Redleap Reserve at Mill Park on Sunday night. Witnesses were heard screaming for help, including a man who jumped into the water and began frantically searching for the men.
Neighbour Nathan Henderson heard the panicked calls and helped police try to save the men.
“A police officer arrived and jumped in, ” he told Nine News. “So I sprinted home, grabbed a surfboard so we had something to float on ... and then we started searching the lake.”
The Herald Sun reports three police officers who arrived first on the scene spent minutes in the water trying to find the pair before a full-scale search began.
The men’s bodies were pulled from the water between 9.20pm and 10pm on Sunday. Friends and family of the 19-year-old victim were reportedly there as rescuers recovered his body.
Henderson said the man who tried to save his friends was “hysterical”.
“He was just rolling on the floor, crying, and just devastated, ” he told Nine News.
Senior Sergeant Mark Smith said the men were affected by alcohol.
“Unfortunately, because of the effects of alcohol, two of them have got into trouble while swimming across the lake, ” he said at the scene.
The lake’s visibility is poor and the water is extremely deep, with a layer of floating mould and debris, according to Henderson.
