Serious questions around the grounded rescue helicopter while man drowned

Or indeed anyone who's been on a beach at all, whether in the height of summer or the depths of winter.

A Canberra IT consultant drowned last week while trying to pull his nine-year-old daughter from a rip off Surf Beach in Batemans Bay.

The girl survived, but Raj Kishore was pulled from the water by surf-lifesavers and could not be revived.

The kicker to this story, though, is the fact that a rescue helicopter that could have been at the scene in minutes was grounded and its crew sat helpless, just 17km from the South Coast beach.

As the news of the drowning broke on Monday, many people could well imagine the circumstances under which such a situation could occur; a winter's day on a beach that was empty of summer crowds, a surprise rip, freezing water, a father rushing unthinking into the water to reach his daughter, and then overcome by the current.

But learning there was another unfortunate set of circumstances playing into this scenario has shed a much more disturbing light on what is already a terrible tragedy.

Both events were unlikely; a grounded helicopter and a mid-winter beach rescue mission.

Westpac Lifesaver 23 was grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority due to safety paperwork issues on the very same day its crew received a call to help, on a beach well outside peak season.

Both situations were rare.

The fact they happened simultaneously is almost too hard to contemplate.

Just days after the drowning, the safety authority and helicopter rescue crew were each blaming the other for the helicopter being unable to help in Mr Kishore's rescue.

The authority has defended its decision to ground the helicopter and insists the rescue team could have flown to the rescue scene under "mercy flight" provisions.

But the helicopter operator, Helistar, maintains it had asked for an exemption to fly rescue missions and had been refused.

CASA, meanwhile, denies such a request was received.

Conservative estimates show it would take no more than 10 minutes for the helicopter to reach Surf Beach from Moruya once it received the call for help on Monday.

At the time of writing, it's too early to determine where the responsibility lies, or even whether a different set of circumstances could have averted the tragedy.

As it happened, it was Batemans Bay Marine Rescue and Batemans Bay surf lifesavers, no doubt doing their utmost, who pulled Mr Kishore from the water, and were unable to revive him.

But the situation remains incredibly disturbing.

Australia's beach-driven culture relies on reliable and high-quality rescue and lifesaving services that should be on hand wherever possible.

While safety of all aircraft should be paramount, the fact a helicopter may have been grounded over issues around paperwork raises many questions.

So, too, is the fact no one seems able to show how this tragedy could have been prevented.

At this early stage, such blame-shifting and bickering will be of little help to a family now undoubtedly reeling with shock and grief.

But such a confluence of questionable - and ultimately fatal - circumstances will demand answers.

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