A woman has died and five people have been taken to hospital after an ocean rescue on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula this afternoon.

Emergency services helicopters were sent shortly after 3.30pm to Bushrangers Bay, near Cape Schanck, where police believe four people were swept off the rocks.

“Two members of the public entered the water to assist,” a Victoria Police statement said.

Police said emergency services were able to recover all six people from the water, including the woman who had died.

Not an easy read, but a comprehensive look into how drowning happens and how it can be avoided.

With very sobering drowning statistics this summer already, it’s absolutely worth a read. https://t.co/4H1n7qKbxy

— Ambulance Victoria (@AmbulanceVic) January 12, 2021

Ambulance Victoria said four people were taken to Frankston Hospital and another person to Rosebud Hospital.

Bushrangers Bay is an unpatrolled beach, which Life Saving Victoria advises is “moderately safe when waves are low, however stay on the bar and clear of the rocks, and rips against the rocks”.

The bay was the scene of a drowning in January 2019, when young Melbourne musician JJay De Melo got into trouble while swimming there with a friend.

–ABC