AAP
An off-duty lifesaver has told how he tried his best to rescue a family when their boat capsized off NSW’s south coast.
Anthony Bellette, 20, was on his private jet ski when a catamaran carrying five people hit a sandbank and flipped over off Maloney Beach, near Batemans Bay, on Saturday afternoon.
Forty-seven-year-old Sam Sgroi is still missing, with hopes of finding him alive all but gone, while his parents, Con, 73, and Tina, 66, and his niece Giana, 10, all died.
Giana’s sister, Georgia, 11, was rescued after she was found clinging to the boat’s hull.
Mr Ballette, with the help of his brother and local fishermen, pulled three people from the water and was also involved in the search for Mr Sgroi.
“We just tried our absolute best to find them and get them out of the water, but sadly it isn’t always a happy ending,” Mr Bellette said in a release on Tuesday.
He said, 11-year-old Georgina was “fairly distressed” when he rescued her.
“The girl was fairly distressed which is understandable as her family was missing.”
Surf Life Saving NSW manager Dean Storey praised the rescue efforts.
“Anthony, Michael, and all the other members who took part in the search should be incredibly proud – as a team they worked very well together in this tragic incident,” he said.
Hopes of finding Mr Sgroi alive have all but been lost and a police spokeswoman told AAP it was “highly unlikely” the search would resume.
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