Four missing teenagers found alive after disappearing in waters off Rosebud, south-east of Melbourne

Police and emergency services have located four missing teenagers who disappeared in waters off Rosebud, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Key points:

The four teenagers were found on Swan Island, on the opposite side of Port Phillip Bay from where they were last seen. 

Victoria Police said two 18-year-old men, an 18-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman were using inflatable paddleboards at the beach near Rosebud on Monday.

A passer-by noticed belongings on the beach around 8pm and notified police.

At the scene, parents said the four teenagers had just completed their VCE and were celebrating with a paddleboarding trip.

Jack, a parent of one of the teenagers, said he was incredibly appreciative of the community rallying around the search effort.

“This is the Australian way, we really appreciate and love this. Everybody wants to help everybody,” he said.

The teenagers have been taken to Geelong Hospital for assessment. 

Outcome ‘could have been tragic’, police say amid summer safety warning The four missing teenagers were located across the bay on Swan Island.(ABC News)

The police air wing, ambulance helicopters, water police and local rescue boats searched the area last night and into the early morning.

But divisional superintendent Terry Rowlands said the teenagers were eventually found by a local on a beach near Queenscliff while on a morning walk.

“I think they were very cold and very relieved to be on dry land,” he said.

Superintendent Rowlands said the incident provided a stark warning to all Victorians for the coming summer.

“Sensational outcome but just to remind everybody about the dangers that our waterways pose, particularly over the summer period,” he said.

“Four people have entered Port Phillip Bay to have some fun and have ended up in what could have been tragic circumstances.”

Senior Sergeant Ian Pregnell told ABC Radio Melbourne that the teenagers’ parents were in the police command post in Rosebud when the news of their children’s discovery came through.

“To be actually able to present them with the news that they’ve been found safe and well, it was a really emotional, happy time,” he said.

“Some might say a Christmas-time miracle.”

Senior Sergeant Pregnell said the parents of the teenagers were currently en route to Geelong Base hospital, where the four have been taken for treatment.

“[The four teenagers] are in sort of the best condition they can [be] and they might be suffering a little from some minor hypothermia,” he said.

“It was the winds and the current and the tides at the time that have taken them over there.”

Posted 3h ago3 hours agoMon 19 Dec 2022 at 8:29pm, updated 12m ago12 minutes agoMon 19 Dec 2022 at 11:46pm