Bodyboarder Mauricio Abrunhosa drowns during Curl Curl competition, haunting latest post reveals
Read the haunting final message of a champion bodyboarder who mysteriously drowned during a competition on a popular Sydney beach – as his horror final moments are revealed
- Two-time NSW champion died on Sydney beach
- Mauricio Abrunhosa was pulled unconscious from the water
A champion bodyboarder has died while competing in Curl Curl on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Mauricio Abrunhosa, 48, was pulled unconscious from the water around 11am on Sunday morning and despite desperate efforts to resuscitate him, he could not be rescued.
A week earlier, he announced to friends and family on Instagram that he had been named the Over-35 Champion and runner-up in the Over-45 Division in the NSW state bodyboard titles.
‘It feels good. This sport still gives me a natural high that I love,” he wrote in his haunting latest social media post. “This sport continues to give me joy.”
A week after that win, a contender saw Mr. Abrunhosa, known to his friends as Moz, in trouble in the water.
Mr Abrunhosa (pictured), 48, was taking part in a competition at Curl Curl on Sydney’s Northern Beaches when disaster struck
He was unconscious when he was taken from the surf to the beach, where an off-duty nurse treated him before paramedics arrived.
Following resuscitation, Mr Abrunhosa was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital in critical condition where he later died.
“We’re not sure if (Mr Abrunhosa) fell off his board (and) hit his head, or if it was a medical episode,” Tracey Hare-Boyd of Surf Lifesaving NSW told me. 9News.
The north beach local, who was a member of the Sydney Bodyboarder’s Club, was described by friends as ‘very experienced, with a great appreciation for the outdoors’.
Members of the club are deeply shaken by the tragedy and try to come to terms with what happened.
Two-time NSW bodyboarding champion Mauricio Abrunhosa (pictured) has died after being pulled unconscious from the water
He was unconscious when he was taken from the surf to the beach, where an off-duty nurse treated him before paramedics arrived (pictured)
Mauricio Abrunhosa (pictured) said bodyboarding ‘gives me a natural high that I love’
The Northern Beaches local (pictured), who was a member of the Sydney Bodyboarder’s Club, was said by friends to be ‘very experienced, with a great appreciation for nature’
“I think the whole community feels a very deep (loss) and sadness, because it could be any of us,” said a local woman.
An abandoned bodyboard and towel were left on the sand after Mr Abrunhosa was lifted into an ambulance and taken to hospital.
A report is being prepared for the coroner.