Teachers should not have takens kids Snorkelling

A 40-YEAR-OLD Melbourne school teacher has been swept to his death while snorkelling with a group of schoolgirls off Bells Beach. 
 
The group of 15 schoolgirls and three teachers from prestigious Shelford Girls Grammar School in Caulfield were on an organised snorkelling excursion with a Torquay-based adventure company at Southside Beach - an area of reef to the south of Bells Beach - when they were struck by heavy waves about 4.30pm.

The group were snorkelling and rock-hopping along the stretch of reef when the waves hit, the Herald Sun reports.

Most of the schoolgirls and two teachers were able to battle to shore.

Torquay police Sergeant Brian McKiterick said the 40-year-old teacher and four or five of the students, aged 15 and 16, were swept into a rip and dragged further out to sea.
Sgt McKiterick said company operators retrieved the teacher and brought him back to shore, but he was washed out a second time.
"They got him near to the shore but apparently the rip must have picked him up again and taken him further out," Sgt McKiterick said.

Surf lifesavers arrived at the scene and brought the man to shore but failed to revive him after he went into cardiac arrest.
The other schoolgirls were rescued.

Staff and students at the scene were too shocked to comment. Operators of the company - Westcoast Adventure and Surf School - also declined to speak.

Locals said the swell had been getting bigger throughout the day and the beach was a dangerous proposition by the afternoon.

“It’s ridiculous. You could see it from the beach … churned up sand and water,” one experienced Torquay surfer said.
“Even a non-surfer would look at it and say 'I’m not going near that thing today. You’d go somewhere else'."

Conditions were too rough for the air ambulance to winch the man's body from the beach. State Emergency Service volunteers were called in to help carry it about 500m to the nearest car park.

Some of the students were treated at the scene for asthma and swallowing sea water.
They students are expected to undergo counseling after the ordeal.
Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

- With The Geelong Advertiser