AN off-duty police sergeant drowned after rescuing his teenage son caught in a south coast riptide yesterday afternoon (January 1).

NSW police say emergency services were called to Bogola Beach, south of Narooma, following reports a man had been pulled unconscious from the water. Ambulance paramedics commenced CPR, but the man died at the scene.

Police have been told the 45-year-old man, who has been identified as a serving NSW police officer, went into the water and successfully rescued the 14-year-old, who was stuck in a riptide, before he became caught himself.