A woman swimming on a Sydney beach was seriously injured after being attacked by a shark this Saturday (13), authorities said. The case is the latest in a series of attacks recorded along the Australian coast.
Emergency services were called to Coogee beach in the morning, in the east of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, after reports that the 35-year-old woman had been bitten by a large shark about 30 meters from the coast.
“The woman was removed from the water by people who were at the scene, who began providing first aid,” the police said in a statement, adding that the victim suffered serious injuries to her arms and legs.
“She has large lacerations to her legs and arms that will require multiple surgeries,” Inspector Mike Corlis of the New South Wales State Ambulance Service told reporters at Coogee Beach.
Coogee beach and others located in the Randwick Council administrative area were closed for 24 hours following the attack.
“We will work closely with the New South Wales Government, awaiting guidance on when it will be safe to reopen,” Council Mayor Dylan Parker said.
A witness to the attack, Nicola Logan, told Reuters on Coogee beach that she saw a “huge pool of blood” in the water. He then observed “a woman trying to swim, a lot of commotion in the water, and then a person in a rescue kayak trying to bring her back to shore.”
A week earlier, a man died after fishing off the coast of Western Australia in the latest fatal incident.
Last month, a 39-year-old man died after being attacked while fishing on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland state. Ten days earlier, another 38-year-old man went near an island near Perth, also in Western Australia.
Dozens of beaches along Australia’s east coast, including in Sydney, were closed in January after four shark attacks in just two days. The incidents occurred after heavy rains left the water murky, attracting sharks and reducing visibility.
Most shark attacks occur along the east and southeast coasts of Australia, where an average of about 20 such incidents are recorded per year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
