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The tragedy happened on Sunday as the two British tourists were swimming at a beach with no lifeguards, according to a report by the BBC.

A teenage boy, 17, and a man, 46, were swept out to sea near Seventeen Seventy in Queensland.

The pair were declared dead at the scene after being pulled from the water by a police rescue helicopter.

An Australian man is also in a life-threatening condition after being swept out to sea and was airlifted to hospital with serious head injuries.

Police say the injured Australian man was from Monto, a town about 150km inland from Seventeen Seventy.

“We’re not sure whether the third person jumped into the water trying to perform a rescue,” Surf Life Saving Queensland’s Darren Everard told the ABC.

Police are treating the drownings as non-suspicious and will prepare a report for the coroner.