Irish Below Deck Star Hailed A ‘Hero’ After Bondi Beach Shooting

An Irish Below Deck star has been hailed a hero after helping rescue those fleeing from gunfire during the Bondi Beach shooting.

Nathan Gallagher, from Co Donegal, was on a boat near the beach when he heard gunshots over the weekend.

Gallagher was working on a job tagging sharks when he heard the gunfire, which he initially thought were fireworks.

He told RTE’s Live Line: “We heard three or four shots initially and we thought it was fireworks. When I realised it was gunshots, I said to the boys: ‘Stop what you’re doing, we’re going in to see if we can save some people’.”

Nathan said that there were a lot of people swimming and surfing in the water when the shooting took place.

He encouraged these people to swim towards his boat to safety.

“People in the water they’re panicking, they don’t know what it is and I’m shouting: ‘It’s gunshots’,” he said.

“We were ducking behind the cabin. So it was quite scary, but I wanted to do this, get in there and see how many people we could get on the boat and get to safety so that they can get back to their loved ones for Christmas and the New Year.”

Nathan, who has also appeared on Below Deck Mediterranean, managed to pull six people from the water to the boat.

He said that he “wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if I didn’t contribute to saving a few people so there wasn’t a thought in my mind to turn away.”

15 people were killed on Sunday when two gunmen opened fire on Bondi Beach, allegedly targeting a Hanukkah gathering that was taking place in the area.

40 more people were injured in the shooting, which was allegedly carried out by father and son, Sajid and Naveed Akram.