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Who is Luke Bradnam? Weatherman strips and dives into rough sea to recover body, reports live without shirt on

Luke Bradnam took off his shirt just after finishing a live weather segment and helped a man pull the body to the shore

While we have seen journalists reporting news live on TV, rarely does the reporter himself/herself end up creating the news. One such incident took place on Friday, February 5, when a reporter for Australia's Channel Nine dived into the sea moments after appearing on live TV to help pull a body out of the water.

Luke Bradnam took off his shirt just after finishing a live weather segment on Friday after noticing what he thought was a 'swimmer' in trouble and plunged into the surf off the Gold Coast, 40 miles south of Brisbane. However, later he discovered that the 'swimmer' in question was actually a body floating in the water, which he then helped bring back to shore. The body was discovered amid the hunt for a British gym manager, Jake Jacobs, 32, who disappeared on the same stretch of coastline the night before.

Jacobs was last seen around 9.20 pm on Thursday, entering the water with a woman, 29. Since then, neither the man nor the woman could be found. A woman's body had been recovered from the ocean before the man's body was found but the investigators have not confirmed that the female body belonged to the woman accompanying Jacobs. The Queensland Police Service has since identified the male body to be that of Jacobs'. 

Police believe that the pair had been skinny dipping moments prior to their death as Jacobs' car was found parked nearby with a 'Get Naked Australia' sticker on it, The Sun noted. MyFitness Club Broadbeach, the gym in Queensland where Jacobs worked, posted a tribute on their Facebook page. "It is with great sadness that we mourn the tragic loss of our club manager Jake. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family at this time. He was instrumental in helping grow the awesome club that many of you call a second home. You will be missed mate," the message said.

"It was just an incredible moment," Bradnam told Daily Mail Australia after pulling the dead man from the water. "We'd seen this boogie board rider motioning to us from the water and he looked like he was in distress. I felt like I had to do something because there didn't look like there was anyone else around who'd be much good. I got out there and sure enough, there's a body face down in the water. The bodyboarder was looking like he was in shock and I've never experienced anything like that. I've never seen a dead body before."

Bradnam, who had been reporting on the Gold Coast's treacherous surf conditions from Narrowneck all week, was a member of Northcliffe Surf club and a strong swimmer. "Because I'm a swimmer I knew how to get us off the rip. I just knew to maintain my composure and get us into a position to get back to the shore," he added. "I didn't even know if I could swim out there because I tore a muscle in my shoulder at the gym during the week and my arm is meant to be in a sling. It held up long enough to get him back to shore."

He described how he managed to get the body in a "brother handshake" with the boogie boarder as they brought him back to the shore."Thankfully the police arrived as we got to the shore because we didn't know what to do, there were people taking their evening stroll along the beach," he said. "I'm just happy we might be able to give closure to a family. Experiencing this, I have even more respect for police and ambos who do this every day."