Sydney records third shark attack in two days; surfer mauled at northern beach as closures widen
A surfer believed to be in his 20s was critically injured after a shark mauled him off a northern Sydney ocean beach, authorities said, marking the city’s third shark attack in two days and prompting the closure of all northern beaches.
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New South Wales state police said members of the public pulled the man from the water and began first aid before emergency crews arrived. He suffered serious injuries to his legs and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said in a statement.
Authorities closed Sydney’s northern beaches until further notice as surf lifesavers and police conducted patrols and warned swimmers and surfers to stay out of the water.
The latest mauling follows a separate attack the previous day on a 12-year-old boy in Sydney Harbour. Police said the boy had been jumping with friends from a 6-meter rock into the water off Shark Beach in the eastern suburb of Vaucluse when a large shark struck.
“It was a horrendous scene at the time when police attended. We believe it was something like a bull shark that attacked the lower limbs of that boy,” Superintendent Joseph McNulty, the New South Wales marine area police commander, told reporters. “That boy is fighting for his life now.”
Police officers put the unconscious child into a boat and applied two tourniquets to control heavy bleeding, McNulty said. The boy remains in intensive care at Sydney Children’s Hospital, surrounded by family and friends.
In a separate incident, a surfer reportedly about 11 years old was uninjured after an encounter with a shark, but the beach was closed immediately as a precaution, authorities said.
McNulty urged people to avoid swimming in the harbour and in river systems across New South Wales following recent heavy rains that have flushed runoff into coastal waterways. He said brackish conditions and surface splashing can create a “perfect storm” that draws sharks closer to shore.
Australia has recorded more than 1,280 shark incidents since 1791, with over 250 fatalities, according to a national database tracking shark encounters with humans. Scientists say several factors may be contributing to elevated risk, including more people in the water, warming seas that appear to be shifting shark migratory patterns, and local environmental conditions following storms, even as overfishing has reduced numbers of some species.
Sydney’s coastal communities have been on edge since a great white shark killed a man surfing at a popular northern beach in September last year. Two months later, a bull shark fatally attacked a woman swimming off a remote beach north of the city.
Authorities said safety assessments and water patrols would continue along the northern beaches, with updates on reopenings to be provided as conditions allow. Police and surf lifesavers urged residents and visitors to heed closures, check local alerts, and avoid swimming at dawn and dusk, in murky water or after heavy rain—conditions that can increase the likelihood of shark interactions.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
