Rainbow shines where swimmer tragically drowned at Killalea Beach Shell Harbour on Easter Sunday

A rainbow has appeared at a popular surf spot just two hours after a horror drowning took place with many devastated locals seeing it as a sign from the heavens. 

An Italian man who had just arrived in Australia drowned after he took to the water at the unpatrolled Killalea Beach in Shell Harbour, 20km south of Wollongong on the NSW south coast, on Easter Sunday. 

The tragedy comes after NSW was hit with two separate drownings at Port Stephens and the Tweed River on the same day. 

Saddened locals were astonished by the rainbow that appeared for one hour after the tragedy. 

‘I thought it was a sign,’ one person wrote on social media.

Surf Life Saving NSW State Operations Centre received reports of the swimmer in distress at 3pm after he was caught in wild surf 50 metres offshore

The man who had come to Australia to work as an engineer in Sydney could not find his way back through the surf after swimming out (pictured, Killalea Beach)

Another said: ‘Both ends of the rainbow are showing through the clouds.’ 

Surf Life Saving NSW State Operations Centre received reports of the swimmer in distress at 3pm after he was caught in wild surf 50 metres offshore, the Illawarra Mercury reported. 

The man who had come to Australia to work as an engineer was pulled to shore by rescuers but was declared dead after attempts to revive him by NSW paramedics failed. 

NSW Ambulance’s chief inspector in Illawarra, Terry Morrow, said the man had been in the water for a significant amount of time before he was brought ashore unconscious.

‘Unfortunately he had gone swimming at northern end of Killalea beach and got into trouble and subsequently drowned,’ Insp. Morrow said.

‘The person had come from Italy and had been here for a short period of time.’

Various emergency crews were involved in the desperate bid to save the man’s life including a 4WD and a Toll rescue helicopter which had dropped off a doctor and a paramedic at the beach. 

Inspector Morrow said it makes it harder when swimmers choose to go out at secluded beaches.

The tragic Shell Cove incident at Killalea Beach, also known as The Farm, comes after two other drownings on Easter Sunday. 

A man in his 70s drowned after he went into the surf at Fingal Beach in Port Stephens to rescue a girl at around 10am, 7News reported. 

It is understood the girl who had been struggling in the surf had made it back to shore. 

The body of another man was found in the Tweed River at Banora Point in Northern NSW at around midday while investigations into his death are underway.

The tragic Shell Cove incident at Killalea Beach (pictured), also known as The Farm, comes after two other drownings on Easter Sunday 

SLSNSW CEO, Steve Pearce said the three drownings are a part of a horror year for in the state and the worst summer in NSW history. 

He added every drowning has been at an unpatrolled beach or outside of patrol hours and reminded swimmers to swim between the red and yellow flags. 

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Meteorology warned surf and swell conditions were expected to remain hazardous for swimmers in NSW including the Illawarra and Sydney Coasts on Tuesday. 

There was also a hazardous surf warning for Wednesday affecting the coastal areas of Byron, Coffs Coast, Macquarie, Hunter and Sydney.