SYDNEY — A teenage boy was critically injured Sunday after a shark attack in Sydney Harbour, prompting beach closures and warnings to stay out of the water as authorities searched for the animal, police and state officials said.
New South Wales Police said the boy, believed to be about 13 years old, was bitten off Shark Beach in the eastern suburb of Vaucluse. He suffered serious leg injuries. “The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark,” police said in a statement.
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Officers pulled the boy from the water within minutes of being alerted to the incident, according to police. Paramedics transported him to Sydney Children’s Hospital, where he was in critical condition, authorities said.
Shark Beach was closed and nearby harbour beaches were evacuated while wildlife experts worked to identify the species involved, the New South Wales government said. Police advised swimmers to avoid entering nearby waters until further notice.
“This is a tragic shark attack on a young boy having a swim on a Sunday afternoon near a harbour beach in Sydney’s east,” New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said. “Our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. I understand there were also other young people with him at the time of the attack, our thoughts are also with them.”
The attack adds to growing concern about shark encounters along Australia’s coast. There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents nationwide since 1791, with more than 250 resulting in death, according to a database tracking encounters between sharks and humans. Scientists say increasingly crowded coastal waters and rising ocean temperatures that may be shifting sharks’ migratory patterns could be contributing to a rise in attacks, even as overfishing has depleted some species.
In September, a great white shark killed surfer Mercury Psillakis at a popular ocean beach in northern Sydney. Two months later, a bull shark killed a woman while she was swimming off a remote beach north of the city.
Authorities did not immediately provide further details about Sunday’s incident in Sydney Harbour. Officials said the investigation was continuing and that beach closures would remain in place while conditions are assessed.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
