Dramatic footage shows a police boat slammed against jagged rocks as emergency crews attempt to reach a car that plunged off a cliff and into the sea in the middle of the night
By Leith Huffadine and Brianne Tolj For Daily Mail Australia 00:22 BST nine Jan 2016, updated 14:43 BST nine Jan two thousand sixteen
- A man has died after his car fell over the side of a Sydney cliff on Saturday
- Witnesses heard a noisy bang and light coming from the water at 1.40am
- Divers searched the Queenscliff Beach area, 16km from the CBD, for hours
- A police boat attempting to recover the assets lost power and became stuck on the rocky shoreline
Police attempting to recover a car and figure from the ocean sparked a rescue effort themselves when their boat’s engine failed and was smashed onto nearby rocks.
The boat and its squad were attempting to recover the car and driver from water at the north end of Sydney’s Manly Beach, when it lost power and became stuck on rocks about noon.
Attempts by those aboard another police launch to pull the vessel off the rock shelf failed, and the boat was slammed against the rocky shoreline by flaps, with an officer still aboard.
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Posts on social media indicated the boat was still beached about 7pm.
A police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia neither of the officers on board the boat were injured in the incident.
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Police would eliminate the vessel from the rocks as soon as it was safe to do so.
The man in the car died after he drove the vehicle off a cliff and into the water about 1.40am on Saturday.
His death is not suspicious and a report will be ready for the coroner, police said shortly after finding the man and the car in the water at 11.30am in Queenscliff, about 16km north of Sydney’s central business district.
Witnesses called police in the early hours when they heard a noisy bang and witnessed the fence at the end of Queenscliff Road was violated and eyed lights coming from the water, according to police.
Officers searched the area at the top of the cliff and Marine Area Instruction began searching the water.
Helicopters were also used to search from above but nothing was located and the search was suspended until Saturday morning when the light was better.
Divers continued searching the water around Ten.30am Saturday.
Visibility was originally a concern because of the latest strong rainfall.
Debris from the car reportedly washed up on nearby beaches on Saturday.
If anyone has any information, they are asked to call Northern Beaches detectives or Crime Stoppers at one thousand eight hundred 333 000.