A man has died and a toddler has been airlifted to hospital in a critical condition after being pulled from water at Fishermans Reach on Thursday morning.

What happened: Emergency services vehicles streamed into the usually-serene riverside community, south of Stuarts Point, just after 10:15am, in response to reports of a man and a boy struggling in the waters of the Macleay Arm.

According to NSW Police, members of the public removed the pair from the water and began CPR.

Paramedics then continued the treatment, but the man was unable to be revived. The boy has been airlifted to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital.

The man is yet to be formally identified, but NSW Police believe he is aged in his late 20s.

Image credit: Glenn Bishop.