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- Luke Bradnam, a reporter for Australia’s Channel Nine had been describing the dangerous surfing conditions.
- The body was that of Jake Jacobs, 32, a British gym manager who went missing on Thursday.
- The body of a woman who also disappeared with him was also recovered earlier.
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An Australian TV weatherman helped recover the body of a missing British man from the Gold Coast sea during a live broadcast.
Luke Bradnam, a reporter for Australia’s Channel Nine, had been describing the dangerous surfing conditions in the Narrowneck area in Queensland, 40 miles south of Brisbane, on Friday.
After finishing his report and while the camera was still rolling, a boogie boarder alerted Bradnam to the floating body. The Brisbane Times reported, and he stripped down and entered the water.
He had initially thought that it was a swimmer in distress but soon realized that it was a dead body, according to the Daily Mail.
Bradnam was interviewed about the incident shortly after by his employer, Channel Nine, which shared the video on Twitter.
—9News Gold Coast (@9NewsGoldCoast) February 5, 2021
The Queensland Police Service has since identified the body that the reporter helped retrieve as that of 32-year-old Jake Jacobs, a British gym manager who had gone missing the day before.
Jacobs was last at Broadbeach, Queensland, with a 29-year-old Ukrainian national from Victoria who was there on vacation.
Police believe they had been skinny dipping as his car found parked nearby had a 'Get Naked Australia' sticker on it, The Sun noted.
Bradnam, a Northcliffe Surf Club member and a strong swimmer, brought the body back to land at 6.20pm, around 5km north of where the pair had disappeared, the Daily Mail added.
The woman's body has since been recovered from the ocean on Kurrawa Beach, and the police have contacted her next of kin.
MyFitness Club Broadbeach, the gym in Queensland where Jacobs worked, posted a tribute on their Facebook page.
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: "Our staff are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Queensland, Australia. We remain in contact with the local police."