An overseas tourist is continuing to enjoy her holiday in Australia thanks to the efforts of two Victoria police members who rescued her from a rip at Lake Tyers Beach on Tuesday, Victoria Police say.
The incident happened just before midday when two swimmers, a man and a woman, were caught in a rip and taken out a short distance into the surf zone, unable to swim back to shore.
The Gippsland Water Police members, Sergeant Allan Rice and a Leading Senior Constable Glenn Powell, were 30 kilometres away in Metung when notified of the incident and rushed to the scene.
Arriving 35 minutes later, the two swimmers were pointed out to the members by other police who had set up a command post on the shoreline.
The two tourists had been in the water for approximately 45 minutes.
Due to the rough conditions it was not possible to get a boat out into the surf zone so Leading Senior Constable Powell, kitted up and prepared to undertake a swim rescue.
Sergeant Rice steered the police boat out as close as possible to the surf zone and the leading senior constable dropped over the side, swimming through the surf to the exhausted swimmer.
The swimmer, a woman in her 30s, was assisted into a flotation device and the leading senior constable then swam back to shore, towing the woman to safety.
The second swimmer, a man in his 50s, managed to make it back to shore unassisted.
The woman was conveyed to hospital suffering from hypothermia.
G:Media UnitINCIDENT MANAGEMENTRescue20172. Lake Tyers
