Fears are mounting for a teenager swept off a rock shelf at a popular beach.
A multi-agency search resumed early on Christmas Day for the 15-year-old who went missing around 3pm on Christmas Eve off North Avoca Beach on the NSW Central Coast.
He was one of three 15-year-olds swept from the rocks and into the sea when the boys were hit by a wave.
Two of the boys scrambled back onto the rocks, before raising the alarm.
NSW Police hold grave fears for the Central Coast teenager, who's been identified in media reports as Luca Bennett.
"His two friends raised the alarm with nearby lifeguards ... but they have been unable to rescue the boy," Inspector Benjamin Campbell of Brisbane Water Police District said on Wednesday.
"It’s a very tragic incident and I feel for the family at this time of year.
"It’s just a timely reminder of how dangerous the rocks can be around the ocean and how everyone has to be really careful."
The president of Central Coast branch of Surf Live Saving NSW Slattery said crews were hoping for a positive outcome.
“Our message has been, and always will be, that the flagged locations are the safest place to swim,” he said.
“If you are in need of help, that’s the closest resource that we can get to.”
Some 20 volunteer surf rescue workers, four council lifeguards and a diver are involved in the search.
On Tuesday evening, emergency services, including police and surf life savers, searched for about five-and-a-half hours before darkness fell.
Volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW also joined the search, which was conducted in choppy conditions and a swell of up to three metres.
As the search resumed on Wednesday, a hazardous surf warning was issued for the Byron Coast, Coffs Coast, Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast and Sydney Coast.
“Surf and swell conditions are expected to be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating, and swimming in the following areas,” the Bureau of Meteorology warned.
