Wave Hits Blowhole, Kills 6 in Australia
A freak wave surging through a cliff face blowhole sucked two Australian families out to sea Saturday, killing six people and leaving the father of one family missing in the rough seas, an ambulance officer said.
Two people were rescued by pleasure boats and taken to nearby Shellharbour Hospital suffering from hypothermia. Police helicopters and divers called off a search for the missing father late Saturday as seas off the Kiama blowhole, a popular tourist attraction 80 miles south of Sydney, worsened.
Blowholes are weathered openings in cliff faces where ocean waves rush in, forcing spray high into the air.
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