The tragic deaths of two teenagers at a popular waterfall show the dangers of the slippery rocks and turbulent water, experts say.

Honor Ward, 17, fell off a waterfall and failed to resurface at Wappa Falls on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon.

Her friend Beau Liddell, 17, jumped into the water to save her but also failed to resurface.

Emergency services later found their bodies in the water.

The deaths have devastated the Sunshine Coast community, with friends and family of the teens remembering the pair as caring and kind.

The teens’ friend Kaylee was at the waterfall when she watched the pair slip away in front of her, posting on social media of the emptiness she now feels having lost Beau and Honor.

“I couldn’t reach (Honor) in time, couldn’t pull her from the water, and it’s suffocating, knowing I couldn’t save her when she needed me most,” she said on Instagram.

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“Thankyou Beau … you didn’t hesitate, didn’t think twice, just got in when she needed someone.

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“I’ll carry both of you with me forever.”

Honor’s friends have paid tribute to her shine, energy and drive to make life fun for those around her.

“She had a way of making me laugh so much I couldn’t breath … every where she went she spread such a positive, loving energy, that’s absence will be felt everywhere,” friend  Bellamoe Amato Ali posted on Facebook.

Beau’s father said the 17-year-old was never one to stand back while another family member remembered him as a kind-hearted kid.

“You never quite realised how precious life was and how much you would be missed if you left us,” another family member posted on Instagram.

A GoFundMe set up to help Beau’s family with a funeral has raised more than $28,000.

“When hearts are hurting, we look to all the ways we can help, and at the moment this family needs to fund a funeral, and, manage life after the tragic loss of a beautiful, fun, and spicey young man,” said Sharon Evans, mother of Beau’s friend Jaz.

As the community reels from the loss of two young lives, James Cook University Professor of Public Health Richard Franklin says the tragic deaths serve to warn others of the hidden dangers of waterfalls.

Figures by Royal Life Saving Australia from 2022-23 reveal there were 76 deaths at rivers or waterfalls versus 75 at beaches across Australia.

The agency also estimates that around 5 per cent of drownings in inland water sources took place at waterfalls or swimming holes over the ten years to 2021.

Prof Franklin said popular swimming locations often come with potentially fatal hazards from slippery rocks, unexpected currents and turbulent water.

Waterfalls can be particularly dangerous when water cascades to carve out a deep pool, known as a plunge pool.

“Where the waterfall hits the pool, it creates turbulence and currents,” he said.

“If large volumes of water are falling, the pressure can be enough to push people underneath.

“Currents can also carry people underneath a rock ledge and trap them.”

He said droplets and mist from the falls mean the rocky sides are inevitably slippery and often covered in algae or moss.

Another factor is also waterfalls and rivers are unsupervised by lifeguards so if something goes wrong, it can take hours for help to arrive.

He urged waterfall swimmers to check for dangers before taking the plunge.