Perils of fishing from the rocks

Tragedies can happen any place, any times even without the encounter of an apparent freaque wave as this Western Australia case recently reported by Australia's ABC News:

A 63-year-old South Australian man has drowned while fishing from rocks near Esperance in Western Australia.

The man died at Quagi Beach, about 80-kilometeres west of Esperance, on Saturday afternoon.

It is believed he lost his footing and slid into the ocean when he was hit by a wave.

The man's wife and two friends tried to save him but were unsuccessful.

Senior Sergeant Ricky Chadwick says it was a freak accident.

"His wife and friends had been travelling around Australia," he said.

"They were passing through Esperance and decided to camp at Quagi Beach for a couple of days; they'd been fishing there previously.

"On this occasion, unfortunately he slipped into the water and wasn't able to get himself back out."

Sergeant Chadwick says the conditions made it very difficult for the man to climb back up to safety.

"Fishing on rocks is very risky business, where the waves crash around the edge of the rocks, there's a lot of white water," he said.

"It's very, very difficult to swim in white water, people can panic so it doesn't take a lot to get yourself in a very dangerous predicament.

"Just one slight mishap has unfortunately ended tragically for this man and his family."

Yes, it was "just one slight mishap" that caused this unnecessary tragic case that should never, ever, be happen.  Let's hope and pray that it will indeed never, ever, be happen again!