It's been a hectic Christmas weekend on New Zealand's northern beaches, namely at Coromandel's Hot Water Beach where multiple rescues took place.
Lifeguards made three rescues at the iconic beach on Christmas Day and Boxing Day as beachgoers turned up in their hundreds.
The popular beach is famous for its hot water mini sand baths, where people can dig their own spa pools and relax in the natural springs formed by violent volcanic activity thousands of years ago.
In the next few days, the number of Hot Water Beach attendees is expected to keep growing - as people flock to Coromandel to see in the New Year.
"Lifeguards have beach safety signs out as well as people on the ground advising people not to swim in the dangerous area in front of the hot pools," Hot Water Beach Lifeguard Service spokesperson Sandi Lowe said. "Unfortunately, many people are still not following this advice."
In addition, Lowe said people visiting Hot Water Beach need to watch out for sandbanks. She urged beachgoers to swim between the flags.
As well as the three rescues at the weekend, lifeguards "performed countless actions to prevent swimmers from getting into trouble", Lowe said.
"Three rescues and a couple of assists at Hot Water Beach certainly avoided tragedy for some families… Anyone visiting Hot Water Beach should look for the sandbanks and swim between the flags. Be sure to keep children within arm's reach, ask a lifeguard for advice and if in doubt, stay out."
Across all of New Zealand's northern beaches, lifeguards made 11 rescues at the weekend. Three people died at North Island beaches on Sunday.
In one incident, police notified lifeguards about a group of five people caught in a rip at Auckland's Waiwera Beach at 4:15pm on Sunday.
"Lifeguards from Ōrewa Surf Life Saving Club quickly launched an inflatable rescue boat (IRB) to attend the unguarded beach," a Surf Life Saving NZ spokesperson said.
"Four patients were successfully recovered by emergency services and the Ōrewa IRB continued the search for the fifth patient who was located in the water by police eagle helicopter before an additional IRB from Red Beach arrived within the area to assist.
"Ōrewa lifeguards retrieved the patient in the IRB and returned them to shore where they performed CPR and were quickly met by St John staff. The Westpac rescue helicopter also attended the incident but did not transport the patient who was declared deceased after 40 minutes."
In other incidents, a woman died at Kāpiti's Waikanae Beach and a man was killed in a water-related incident at Karioitahi Beach southwest of Auckland.
"With nearly 2000 hours worked this weekend alone our guards have taken to an unprecedented busy early-season extremely well and are using all their training and equipment provided to them to ensure the public enjoy our northern beaches and return home safe," northern region Surf Lifesaving operations manager James Lea said. "We know the toll it takes when we aren't able to save everyone."
Sunday's tragic events reiterated the importance of "choosing a lifeguarded beach to enjoy the incredible weather… and always be sure to swim between the flags", Lea said.
