Emergency services were called to a beach at Crowdy Bay near Port Macquarie, about 350km north of Sydney, on Thursday morning after two people were bitten by a shark, New South Wales State Police said. The woman, believed to be in her 20s and has not yet been officially identified, died at the scene. The man, also believed to be in his twenties, was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
Passers-by tried to help the couple before the ambulance arrived, but the woman could not be saved. The beach is closed while authorities try to determine what kind of shark it is, officials said.
Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said the incident happened in a ‘quite remote location’. “Unfortunately, a young woman was killed, while a man was taken to hospital,” he told 2GB. “These incidents are terrible for everyone, and unfortunately, we’ve already had a few this year,” he added.
There have been five shark bite deaths in Australia this year. In 2024, there were 13 non-fatal attacks, in 2023 there were four deaths, and in 2020 there were seven fatal attacks.
“Overall across Australia over the last two decades there has been an increase in shark bites,” Professor Charlie Huveneers, director of Flinders University’s Marine and Coastal Research Consortium, told Guardian Australia.
(Vijesti.ba)
