| posted on April 7, 2017
By ANTHONY PROBERT
THE hope of finding a man alive who disappeared in the ocean at Boat Harbour near Denmark on Saturday has faded as police confirmed the search was now a recovery effort.
The 31-year-old Perth man, Jack Thomas Bray, was camping at the popular spot 35km west of Denmark with a female friend, a Canadian-born 21-year-old, when she was swept off rocks at about 3pm while the couple were taking photos.
Mr Bray sought assistance before jumping into the ocean with a boogie board in an attempt to rescue his friend.
The couple spent several hours in the water and were washed about 2km along the coast before she managed to make it to land.
She was transferred to Albany Health Campus where she was treated for shock and hypothermia.
The boogie board that Mr Bray used was recovered on Tuesday.
There were no other signs of his body despite four days of extensive land, air and sea searches in difficult conditions.
Great Southern district police inspector Mark Twamley said the situation had changed from one of hoping to find Mr Bray alive to a recovery effort to find his body to provide closure for the man’s family and friends.
He said the search had been scaled down with police divers returning to Perth on Wednesday and volunteer marine rescue on stand-by.
Ground crews were still searching the coastline and a fixed-wing aircraft had scoured the area on Wednesday morning.
“We’ve spoken to the family and there’s now a situation where we need to let nature take its course and if his body is on the bottom of the ocean, it needs time to surface,” he said.
Inspector Twamley appealed to the influx of tourists and locals due to head to similar camping spots along the South Coast ahead of the Easter holiday period, by stating –
“It’s the same message. This is a beautiful part of the world and we appeal to people to enjoy it, but please be careful. Don’t turn your back on the ocean,” he said.
Mr Bray’s family and friends spoke to the media on Monday in Denmark and at that stage remained hopeful of finding him alive.
Family friend Robert Farrell spoke on behalf of the family and said they were not surprised by Mr Bray’s selfless actions.
“There have been many times before and all of our friends can say that if you’re in trouble Jack would come,” he said.
“And that could be in any ways or terms whether it be in physical danger or just emotional.
“He has helped me out many ways in the past.”
Mr Farrell said his friend had a strong understanding of the ocean, with his father being a pearl diver in Broome.
Mr Bray’s mother Pauline Prouse was proud of her son’s actions in attempting to rescue his friend.
The disappearance of Mr Bray was made even more difficult by the fact Ms Prouse had only recently convinced her son to relocate from New South Wales to Perth to spend more time with his family.
Ms Prouse praised the efforts of those involved in the search for her son.
