Police recommend motorists avoid the Athenree Gorge area near Waihi Beach

A 27-year-old man has died and a 28-year-old is in hospital after swimming at a beach near Byron Bay on the NSW Far North Coast.

Emergency services were called to New Brighton Beach, 25 minutes north of Byron Bay at 1pm when a man collapsed after getting out of the water.

The younger man was then found unresponsive and pulled from the water.

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He couldn't be saved, despite the efforts of Surf Lifesavers and an off-duty nurse who did CPR until ambulance crews arrived.

The older man was rushed to Tweed Hospital in a stable condition.

Police are investigating and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.

It's just the latest ocean tragedy over the New Year.

Yesterday, an off-duty police officer drowned while trying to save his teenage son from a rip on a beach on the NSW Far South Coast.

He was on holiday from the NSW Blue Mountains with his family.

Police said one person was treated with CPR but died at the scene about 4pm today

Uiatu "Joan" Taufua, the mother of Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas, has been charged with manslaughter over a crash that killed three members of a Gold Coast family.

Christopher Fawcett, Susan Zimmer and her daughter Stephanie died after the Gold Coast hinterland crash on Friday.

Taufua, 46, allegedly failed to stop for police who'd spotted her dangerously driving a black 2017 Mercedes GLS 63 wagon along Bonogin Road in Bonogin about 5pm.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Procter said police would allege her vehicle was "driving in an extremely dangerous manner on the wrong side of the road at high speed".

He said investigators would allege the car was travelling at "extreme speed" but couldn't say exactly how fast.

"We have spoken to many witnesses, we have seized a lot of CCTV, and we have painted the picture of what happened on that afternoon," he told reporters this afternoon.

Procter said officers had tried to stop the car but didn't give chase before it collided with a silver 2018 Mercedes A200 about a kilometre down the road "a matter of minutes" later.

Police believe one of the cars hit a power pole, which fell down and caused it to catch fire.

Taufua was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition with an arm injury.

Police said she had been formally charged with three counts of manslaughter and one count each of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, evading police and driving without a licence.

Procter said he expected Taufua to be released in the coming days, adding that she had not spoken to police but was now well enough to do so.

Zimmer's daughter Claudine Snow said she found out about the crash in a call from her husband.

"He said, 'They're all gone.' I said, what do you mean, 'They're all gone?'" Snow told 9News.

"My mum is my best friend.

"And I sometimes forget and I go to call her and then realise she's gone.

"I have an 11-month-old baby boy who won't ever remember his aunty or his grandma."

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An off-duty police officer has drowned while trying to save his teenage son from a rip on a beach on the NSW Far South Coast.

The man, 45, died during the brave rescue of his 14-year-old son near Narooma on New Year's Day.

Surf Life Saving NSW said the man was also caught in a rip at Bogola Beach, which is unpatrolled.

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Local lifesavers rushed to the beach in an inflatable rescue boat at 1.30pm but despite giving CPR, the man couldn't be saved and he died at the scene.

NSW Police Acting Inspector Paul Hoyer from Nowra Police Station said the officer worked in the North West Metropolitan Region, which covers a large part of Sydney's north and west.

He's understood to be based at Springwood in the Blue Mountains.

The off-duty officer was on a family holiday when he rushed to the rescue of his son, who was caught in a "substantial" rip in the ocean.

"He was able to push his son out of the rip, he was then taken further out to sea in the rip," Hoyer said.

"This is a tragedy which will cut through to the family, his friends and workmates.

"It's devastating."

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Hoyer praised the officer for his actions.

"As a father, parent and police officer, he was obviously doing what he should be doing," he said.

Hoyer urged people to swim between the flags at patrolled beaches.

Police said officers from South Coast Police District will prepare a report for the coroner.

NSW Surf Life Saving said large crowds flocked to beaches on New Year's Day.

The drowning is just the latest over the festive period, with multiple people losing their lives in water-related incidents across the nation.

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A traveller at New York City's John F. Kennedy International airport got into a sticky situation – literally.

The Rhode Island man was arrested last week after TSA agents discovered parts of a disassembled semi-automatic handgun disguised within two jars of peanut butter in his luggage, according to a news release from the TSA

The agency said a checked bag containing the peanut butter jars triggered an alarm in an X-ray unit at JFK airport on December 22.

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Closer inspection revealed the gun parts, wrapped in plastic and "jammed" into two jars of what appear to be Jif brand peanut butter.

The gun's magazine was loaded with bullets, according to the TSA.

"The gun parts were artfully concealed in two smooth creamy jars of peanut butter, but there was certainly nothing smooth about the way the man went about trying to smuggle his gun," John Essig, TSA's federal security director for JFK Airport, said in the release.

"Our officers are good at their jobs and are focused on their mission – especially during the busy holiday travel period."

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Port Authority Police confiscated the handgun parts and arrested the man, according to the TSA.

Travellers planning to bring firearms onto a plane must have the proper permits, declare their weapons, and pack them according to TSA guidelines.

The civil penalty for attempting to bring undeclared weapons onto a flight can be as high as $US15,000 ($22,000).