The British tourists were caught by strong currents on Sunday and dragged out to sea while swimming at a beach in a renowned tourist spot at the southern extremity of the Great Barrier Reef.

A 37-year-old Australian man from Monto, a town some 150km inland, was also swept into the sea during the incident ... southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The area attracts large numbers ...

The year with the highest average sea surface temperature on record was 2022, which was associated with a strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole event and mass coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef .