Girl left with horrific injuries after being sucked through a hole in rock pool at Dee Why beach

A young girl has been sucked under water and dragged through a hole while swimming in an ocean bath at a popular Sydney beach.

Myrthe Koning was swimming at an ocean bath at Dee Why on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on February 18 when she was suddenly dragged through a hole and ended up in the ocean.

She suffered a number of deep cuts and bruises, and was taken to hospital.

Her mother Esther Lammertink told the Manly Daily she was ‘close to losing a child and that was not a nice feeling’.  

The hole at the ocean bath is about 1.5m wide, and fills and refreshes it with water from the sea.

Ms Lammertink said she heard her 12-year-old son Thijmen screaming and jumped up to see what was going on.

‘My son had seen her go under. He was screaming because he couldn’t see her. He thought she had drowned,’ she said.

She said after about 10 seconds she saw Myrthe emerge in the sea.

Two men came to Myrthe’s aid by pulling her to the side of the bath, and a lifeguard then arrived on the scene.

She was taken to hospital where several of her wounds were glued shut, and she was given antibiotics.

A Northern Beaches Council spokesman said they had no record of anything similar happening at the same bath.

Two men came to Myrthe’s aid by pulling her to the side of the pool, and a lifeguard then arrived on the scene

He said an investigation of the bath has been carried out with lifeguard, engineers and council staff.

The opening has been closed temporarily while a grate covering the hole will be installed.

Ms Lammertink said her daughter was ‘incredibly luck to escape with only these injuries and not get stuck or swept out into the ocean’.

A Northern Beaches Council spokesman said they had no record of anything similar happening at the same pool