Multiple people die in water tragedies over festive period in NSW

Multiple people have died in drownings over the festive period in New South Wales.

On Christmas Day 79-year-old Canadian tourist Ron Brean died in the surf at Umina Beach on the NSW Central Coast.

A fundraiser said he was caught in a rip with his two grandsons and couldn't be saved.

On the same day, another man is suspected to have died after swimming at Lennox Head, south of Byron Bay.

READ MORE: Nine lives lost in Christmas and Boxing Day storm tragedies

A search for his body launched on Christmas Eve was later called off.

In Sydney's west on Boxing Day Seti Tuaopepe, 35, drowned at Penrith Beach after paddle boarding with children.

The inland beach, which opened the week before, was closed.

Meanwhile, a search is still underway for missing 19-year-old Ashfield man Khattab Abu Haish who was overcome by a rip before his family's eyes at Congo Beach near Moruya in the state's south.

"Hope of life is probably fading away but we're still hopeful of finding him and giving his parents some relief," South Coast Branch Surf Lifesaving's Mike Hallahan said.

Plus a man died and three others have been injured at Stockton Beach near Port Stephens

The four people were pulled from the water this afternoon.

A 33-year-old man couldn't be saved and a woman remains in hospital in a critical condition.