Search for Irish surfer missing off Australia ends for day

An Irish surfer is still missing off the east coast of Australia, despite extensive sea searches since Saturday.

Stuart Butler (20), who is understood to be from Dublin, went missing while surfing with two friends off Cape Byron in northern New South Wales.

His two companions were rescued. A 26-year-old man was helped out of the water and did not suffer any injuries, while a 20-year-old was found on rocks with minor injuries, police say.

The search for Mr Butler resumed at 7.30am local time Monday (10.30pm Sunday, Irish time) and ended as darkness fell in the early evening (it is wintertime in Australia).

“There were extensive searches through the day today,” a local police officer told The Irish Times. “The searches will continue through the week.”

The authorities now believe it has become a recovery operation.

The Irish embassy in Canberra is offering consular assistance to Mr Butler’s family.

Inspector Bobbie Cullen of the Tweed-Byron police force said they are keeping Mr Butler’s family in Australia updated on the search and that they were passing on the news to the family in Ireland.

“Police at this point ... are probably looking at more of a recovery due to the weather conditions and the swell,” Insp Cullen said.

“But we’re doing everything we can.”

An underwater search at the base of the cliffs near where Mr Butler went missing may not be possible until at least Wednesday, when the extreme conditions are expected to ease.

Jet skis involved in the search were unable to safely get close enough to search the cliffs this morning, and were called off at about 11.30am local time.

Insp Cullen said the temperature went down to two degrees overnight and Mr Butler was not wearing a wetsuit.

It is understood that Mr Butler’s relatives have arrived in the area from Melbourne, which is 1640 kilometres from Byron Bay.

A local woman, Alison Reid, was watching whales on Saturday when she saw the three men get into difficulties.

“I’d been looking at the rip and thought ‘if anyone gets stuck in that…’ The next minute I saw people stuck in the rip,” she told local newspaper the Northern Star.

She said one man was taken north by the rip to calmer waters.

“That’s when I saw two [other]heads bobbing about in the wash,” she said.

She then saw one of the men climb onto the rocks.

“The last fellow ... he tried to get up the rock, [but]the waves just washed him back off the rock,” she said.

“He had his board, but it was getting smashed against the rocks. I could tell he wasn’t strong enough. Another wave came and toppled over him ... that was the last I saw of him. He just went under.”

Ms Reid said it was a very dangerous day to go surfing.

“There’s no way in the world any person from Byron Bay would have entered the water anywhere along Tallows [on Saturday],” she said. “There was backwash coming off the rocks, it was treacherous.”

The search for Mr Butler will continue at first light.