Lifesavers have thanked members of the public and rescue services for doing all they could to try and save a woman at Happy Valley on Sunday.
Bystanders pulled her from the surf unconscious on the un-patrolled eastern side of the Caloundra bar after 3pm.
They attempted to revive her while one young man ran to get help from a surf club, before emergency services converged on the scene.
But the 27-year-old from Zillmere could not be revived.
Ithaca-Caloundra City Life Saving Club honorary secretary Patricia Barry said it was a tragic incident and she offered her sympathies to the woman’s family and friends.
She said members of the public and emergency services had rallied to help in any way they could.
“It really was a full community effort,” she said.
“There were two people who pulled her from the surf and they started CPR straight away.
“One breathless lad was sent to us by his father, who was one of the first responders, and he ran about 1km and told us there was an incident,” she said.
The club a crew via inflatable rescue boat, and a crew via an all-terrain vehicle, while members of the Metropolitan Caloundra Life Saving Club also dispatched a crew along the boardwalk from their Kings Beach base to the north.
The crews arrived with oxygen and a defibrillator, and paramedics also attempted to help, but the woman died at the scene.
“Everything was done to try and save this lady, but sadly her time was up,” Ms Barry said.
Ms Barry renewed her calls for people to be wary in the area.
“We are spreading the message that Happys is not the best place for swimming,” she said.
“It can be choppy and rough around there.
“It has traditionally been an unsafe beach because of its rips and it’s part of the riverine estuary and you get the currents going out from the passage, so there is double trouble really, with the rips and the currents.
“We really want to get the message out there, to please swim between the flags.”
The eastern side of the bar is relatively hard to get to for rescuers, especially at low tide, and Ms Barry said the crew in the IRB spent some time pulling their boat over the bank.
Sunshine Coast Surf Life Saving supervisor Shane Urban said it was “extremely tragic that a young woman has lost her life”.
“We send our condolences to her family and friends.
“There is also an (emotional) fallout on our volunteer lifesavers at Bulcock and Kings beaches, and on our professional lifeguards.”
He also reminded beachgoers to swim between the flags, as rescuers searched for a man off the coast of Teewah Beach.
Queensland Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the woman’s death. The incident is not being treated as suspicious.
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