Nine people have died from drowning in NSW since Christmas, while teenager Tui Gallaher is one of two missing swimmers.
The search for the 14-year-old boy was scaled back on Thursday, after he disappeared during an evening swim at Sydney's Maroubra Beach with his cousin on Tuesday night.
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The mother of the teenager missing, feared drowned at Maroubra Beach in Sydney's east, says she will never get over the loss of her son.
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Search for Tui scaled back
The mother of the teenager missing, feared drowned at Maroubra Beach in Sydney's east, says she will never get over the loss of her son.
A tearful Sandra Tomano, the boy's mother, told Ten News her "heart's still aching".
"I thought I was going to die," she said of the previous day of searching, when she collapsed on the beach. "My heart was aching so much."
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She described Tui as "one of a kind", adding, "anyone that he knows, he always puts them first to make sure they're alright".
"To lose him - I don't think I'll ever be the same," she said.
In south-western NSW, the search for a man who is feared to have drowned has been suspended and will resume tomorrow morning.
The 42-year-old Melbourne man waded into the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga about 3.30pm while swimming with his wife on Wednesday.
Inspector Phil Malligan said the man was wearing three-quarter-length denim pants when he entered the water.
"After only swimming for approximately 20 metres, the weight of the pants has pulled him under the water," Mr Malligan said.
"His wife had a hold of him, but due to the force of the water has lost grip and he's gone under.
"In this situation it appears that the weight of the three-quarter pants that he was wearing may have dragged him under."
Mr Malligan said the area of the river where the man went missing has a number of submerged trees from recent flooding, which may have snagged the man as he was carried away.
A search was launched on Wednesday afternoon, involving police, specialist paramedics, the Volunteer Rescue Association and the State Emergency Service, but they found no trace of the man.
The death of a young boy, pulled unconscious with his twin sister from a backyard pool, has brought the count to nine drownings since Christmas. His sister died on Boxing Day.
Those who have died include a man whose body was found underwater at Byron Bay, a grandfather who died trying to save his two nieces near Coffs Harbour and a student who drowned in the Royal National Park on Christmas Day.
with The Daily Advertiser