A Swiss tourist was killed and one other seriously injured in a shark attack while swimming at a beach on the east coast of Australia.
Police said a girl believed to be in her 20s died on the scene while a person, also believed to be in his 20s, was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in Newcastle, a city about 160 kilometres north of Sydney.
Emergency services were called on Thursday morning to Kylies Beach at Crowdy Bay near Port Macquarie, roughly 350 km north of Sydney, after reports of a shark biting two people, Recent South Wales state police said.
Police Chief Insp. Timothy Bayly said at a news conference that the pair knew one another.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that each victims are Swiss nationals, Reuters reported.
“One Swiss national lost her life, and one other Swiss national was injured,” it said in a press release.
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Recent South Wales Ambulance Supt. Josh Smyth said a witness on the beach applied a “makeshift tourniquet,” potentially saving the person’s life and giving emergency services time to treat him.
“The courage from some bystanders is amazing in this example,” he told reporters.
“To place yourself out there may be heroic, and clearly it did give us time to get to that male patient,” he added.
In keeping with the Department of Primary Industries, the shark responsible was likely a big bull shark. Males can grow to about seven feet in length, and females grow to 11 feet or more. Adults often weigh between 200 and 500 kilos, in response to the National Wildlife Federation’s website.
The beach remained closed while sharks were identified and tagged in the world in order that they might be tracked after which released, the BBC reported.
In 2024, there have been nine unprovoked shark attacks in Australia and 0 fatalities. Worldwide, there have been 47 unprovoked attacks and 7 deaths, in response to the international shark attack report.
While attacks are rare, most occur when an individual is wading in water near a shark, which can lead to injury if the shark is provoked by contact.
A bull shark swimming.
Gerard Soury via Getty Images
In February, a Canadian tourist vacationing in Turks and Caicos had each of her hands bitten off by a seven-foot bull shark while swimming in hip-deep water.
Shark bites within the waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands are rare, with just one unprovoked non-fatal attack reported last yr.
In August, a paddleboarder in Nova Scotia got quite the fright after a fantastic white shark sunk its teeth into the side of his board.
Kent Walsh was out for a paddle off Cherry Hill Beach on the South Shore when he was knocked into the water and noticed a shark struggling to unlatch its jaws from his board.
Walsh said he began hitting the shark on the top together with his paddle, and it will definitely detached from the board, allowing him to succeed in shore unscathed.
Of all sharks, bull sharks are sometimes considered dangerous to humans due to their aggressive nature and skill to migrate upriver and survive in fresh water. Statistically, sharks are far more prone to be killed by human activity than humans are by shark attacks.
In a typical yr, fewer than 20 people die from shark attacks, but greater than 20 million sharks die in relation to the fishing industry.
— With files from Reuters and Global News’ Katie Scott
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