Woman drowns at Queensland beach while swimming with daughter

Coolum Beach, on the Sunshine Coast. Photo / Getty Images

Heroic early morning surfers desperately tried to save a mother after she and her daughter were caught in rough surf at a popular Queensland beach, but weren't able to save her.

In a tragic start to the school holidays in Australia, the 34-year-old was swimming with her daughter at unpatrolled First Bay at Coolum Beach, on the Sunshine Coast, on Monday morning when the pair were dragged out to sea.

It's understood the 11-year-old girl had made it back to shore before the woman was found a short time later floating in the water. Surfers pulled her to shore and began administering CPR for about 30 minutes with off-duty lifeguards.

Emergency services were called to Jubilee Esplanade at 7.15am.

A Queensland Ambulance spokesman said paramedics, including Critical Care arrived shortly after and tried to resuscitate the woman, but she could not be saved.

The Courier Mail is reporting the woman was on holidays from Toowoomba with her entire family.

Surf Lifesaving Queensland Sunshine Coast regional manager Aaron Purchase said surfers and off-duty lifesavers had given their "best efforts" to save the woman.

The combination of a north east swell and north easterly winds made for hazardous conditions in the water, Purchase said.

It's the first death in the 2020/2021 Surf Lifesaving Queensland season, after 11 people lost their lives in the last season.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.