A 27-year-old man has drowned while snorkelling in Gordons Bay in Sydney's east on Monday.
The man, known as 'Lucky', was hauled unconscious from the water and onto the rocks by two snorkellers at roughly 5.40pm.
First responders, including two off-duty members of the Clovelly Surf Life Saving club, performed CPR for more than half-an-hour, but were unable to revive him. He died at the scene.
Lauren Williams had watched the tragic event unfold from the rocks.
"There was a commotion in the water and some snorkellers pulled out a man who was passed out," Ms Williams said.
"I called a doctor friend over ... and there were a few doctors and nurses on the beach at the time who started performing CPR.
The man was swimming a Gordons Bay with two friends when he went missing in the water.
Rescue Helicopter, Ambos, and multiple Police swarming Clovelly Headland and Gordons Bay. Heli landed on the rocky clifftop to help assist. — Nick James Fraser (@NickJamesFraser) October 5, 2015
"His friend said he had lost him and he thought he must have swam back to shore, so he went back to shore and was looking for him. He couldn't find him ... and then he panicked," Ms Williams said.
"The people performing CPR asked his friends what his name was and they called him 'Lucky', so they kept saying "Lucky, c'mon, Lucky wake up,'" she said.
Emergency services were called to Gordons Bay south of Clovelly just before 6pm after reports a man was unconscious in the water.
The NSW Ambulance helicopter carrying a doctor on board hovered over the bay before landing on the rocks to assist police and paramedics on the ground, but 'Lucky' was already dead.
"It must be terribly sad for his friends and family. It was incredibly traumatic for them, and we're thinking of them," Ms Williams said.
A spokeswoman for NSW police said "it will be up to the coroner to determine the cause of death, but the early suggestion is he was snorkelling and something went wrong".
Very sad to hear of the young man who's drowned at Gordon's Bay. It's going to be a long hot summer, look out for your mates in the water...
— Simon Anderson (@simonjourno) October 5, 2015