Bull sharks swim off the coast of Jupiter, Florida on 12 February 2022.
- A woman was mauled by a shark in Sydney Harbour, marking the
first shark attack in the area in 15 years. - The incident occurred as the woman swam off a wharf at
Elizabeth Bay, less than two kilometers from the Sydney Opera House. - The victim, identified as 29-year-old Lauren O’Neill,
suffered a serious leg injury and was rushed to the hospital.
A shark
mauled a woman swimmer in the first attack in Sydney Harbour in 15 years,
officials said Tuesday, sending her to hospital with a “serious” leg
injury.
The
predator struck Monday evening as the woman swam off a wharf at Elizabeth Bay,
less than two kilometres from Sydney Opera House, police said.
The woman
suffered a “serious injury to her right leg”, New South Wales police
said in a statement.
It was the
first shark attack in Sydney Harbour since February 2009, when an Australian
navy diver fought off a bull shark that bit him in the arm and leg in
Woolloomooloo Bay.
Neighbours
rushed to help the Elizabeth Bay victim, identified by the Sydney Morning
Herald as 29-year-old Lauren O’Neill, a keen kayaker.
“I got
home from work and sat down on the couch. I heard a soft yell for help just
outside the window,” nearby resident Michael Porter told reporters.
Outside, he
saw the woman trying to climb a ladder out of the harbour’s waters.
Porter said:
Behind her was her leg, which was limp and all completely open and full of dark red blood behind her.
“She
had obviously been mauled extremely badly by whatever shark it was that got
her,” he said.
“We
have always worried and known about sharks in the harbour,” he added.
“It’s only now that it feels very real.”
A
veterinarian living nearby gave first aid.
‘High-risk time’
The woman
was in a stable condition in intensive care at St Vincent’s hospital, a
hospital spokesperson said.
She was
expected to undergo surgery during the day.
Analysis of
the shark bite and of images provided by the authorities confirmed “a bull
shark was likely responsible”, said shark scientist Amy Smoothey.
Sharks are
“more actively feeding” in low light at dawn and dusk, she told
national broadcaster ABC, making it “potentially a high-risk time to be
swimming”.
Scientists
have tagged 87 large bull sharks in Sydney Harbour since 2009, said Smoothey,
who works for the New South Wales department of primary industries.
Tagging
indicated that bull shark numbers in the harbour were at their highest in the
Australian summer months of January and February, she said.
“Shark
bites are really rare although they are very tragic when they do occur and my
thoughts are with the victim,” Smoothey said.
“There
are very few interactions that occur in our enclosed waterways but we know that
bull sharks are one of the top three species involved in shark bites.”
In February
2022, 35-year-old British diving instructor Simon Nellis was devoured off
Sydney’s ocean beach, Little Bay, in the first fatal attack in the city since
1963.
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