Lucky Bay search: Search for missing man enters second day, comes as man drowns in Shark Bay
Police received a triple-0 call after the man, 19, became distressed in waters off Lucky Bay in Yallabatharra about 3.20pm on Tuesday.
A police spokeswoman said water police were conducting a search of the coastline on Wednesday afternoon, which is about 30km south of Kalbarri.
'Currently, jet skis are searching in the ocean, ATVs are searching along the beach and a local plane is conducting an aerial search,' she said.
Police said the man was 'with a friend body surfing when he got swept away'.
The water search was halted on Tuesday night before it recommended at first light on Wednesday.
It is understood the 19-year-old is from the Perth metropolitan area.
The desperate search comes after a 73-year-old man drowned in Shark Bay on Easter Sunday.
St John WA paramedics desperately tried to save the elderly man after he was pulled from waters about 12.30pm.
Police said he could not be revived. A report into his death is being prepared for the coroner.
Royal Life Saving Society WA chief executive Peter Leaversuch told The West Australian he was 'deeply saddened' by the latest water incidents.
'These incidents, along with the alarming number of drowning deaths recorded nationally over the Easter long weekend, highlight the urgent need for water safety to remain a priority for everyone,' he said.
'They are a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong around the water — whether at the beach, river or backyard pool. No matter your age or swimming ability, water safety must always be front of mind.
'We urge everyone to take simple precautions to keep themselves, their families and their friends safe around the water: wear a life jackets, supervise children and avoid swimming alone. These actions can and will save lives.'
Mr Leaversuch said 'broader support and investment' was needed to ensure everyone could develop swim skills.
'We can't always rely on someone being there to help, which is why personal ability in the water matters so much,' he said.
'Teaching people to swim and survive is a vital part of building personal resilience and community safety.'
Six people drowned in NSW over the Easter holiday period, including a nine-year-old boy who became stuck between rocks near the shoreline of South West Rocks on Sunday.
And in Victoria, a man drowned after being swept off rocks at a beach about 125km south east of Melbourne on Friday morning. The man's wife and friend were also swept into the water, but managed to survive.
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The Easter period usually offers a rare respite in Gedeb, in Ethiopia's deeply troubled north, but on April 17 death rained from the skies in this sleepy town caught up in a war between rebels and the army. On this important holiday for Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant Christians, many families had gathered in the morning to repair the local primary school. But out of the blue, shortly before 11:00 am (1400 GMT), "a drone fired on the crowd and pulverised many people right in front of my eyes", a resident told AFP. Ethiopia and many other African nations are increasingly turning to drones as a low-cost means of waging war, often with mixed military results but devastating consequences for civilian populations. Last year, Ethiopia carried out a total of 54 drone strikes, compared to 62 attacks in Mali, 82 in Burkina Faso and 266 in Sudan, according to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a US-based monitor. According to one of two Gedeb residents contacted by AFP, the strike killed "at least" 50 people, and according to the second, more than 100 -- a figure corroborated by several local media outlets. It is one of the deadliest in a series of drone attacks since the conflict began in August 2023, pitting the Ethiopian army against the Fano, the traditional "self-defence" militias of the Amhara ethnic group. A shoe seller at the scene, whose nephew was killed instantly, also blamed an armed drone that continued to "hover in the air" some 20 minutes after the strike. "The sight was horrific: there were heads, torsos and limbs flying everywhere and seriously injured people screaming in pain," he recalled. Ethiopian authorities have not released any information about this attack in Amhara, where the security situation makes some areas very difficult to access and communications are subject to significant restrictions. The Ethiopian army's use of drones, which began during the bloody Tigray War (2020-2022), has since spread to the Amhara and Oromia regions amid multiple insurgencies. In the Amhara region alone, now the hardest-hit, at least 669 people have been killed in more than 70 drone strikes since 2023, according to ACLED data analysed by AFP. - Low-cost - Remotely piloted aircraft used for reconnaissance and strikes -- low-cost technologies now ubiquitous in current conflicts and particularly in Ukraine -- are generating massive interest in Africa. Some 30 African governments have acquired drones, according to data cross-referenced by AFP from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) "Military Balance" and the Center for a New American Security's Drone Proliferation Dataset. For decades, wars in Africa had been fought on land, conducted primarily by light and mobile infantry units. 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"Not only have these countries failed to fully stabilise but conflicts have often become entrenched or even escalated," the researcher added. Drones are proving especially decisive in open terrain, when the enemy is unable to disperse and hide as is the case with jihadists in the Sahel, according to a detailed study by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). In Ethiopia, they helped turn the tide of the conflict in Tigray at a key moment, giving a decisive advantage to federal forces without, however, securing a definitive victory. In the summer of 2021, a large column of Tigray rebel forces, which reached within 200 kilometres of Addis Ababa and threatened to seize the capital, was stopped by the arsenal of drones deployed by the government. Analysis of satellite images by Dutch peace organisation PAX at several Ethiopian air bases confirmed the presence of TB2s and, more recently, the Akinci, as well as Chinese Wing Loongs and Iranian Mohajer-6s. These drones have "significantly increased the Ethiopian army's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as they can prowl for nearly 24 hours, track enemy movements, identify their positions, provide targeting information or directly strike targets," Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone specialist for PAX, told AFP. While the fighting subsequently focused primarily on Tigray, it continued into 2022 and high tensions remain in the region despite the conclusion of a fragile peace agreement, while other hotbeds of violent insurrection have spread to Amhara and Oromia. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his peace efforts with neighbouring Eritrea, is now regularly accused of indiscriminate abuses against the population. "The drones continued to target civilians despite the presence of sophisticated sensor systems, high-definition cameras and night vision," supposedly allowing for better threat identification, said Zwijnenburg, deploring "a lack of operator training or, in the worst case, a deliberate decision". In Gedeb, the small Amhara town targeted during Passover, residents contacted by AFP said there had been no fighting in the area in the run-up to the attack. They live in constant fear now.
