Reuters
Police and emergency personnel at the scene after reports of a shark attack at Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, [Source: Reuters]
A woman swimmer was seriously injured in a shark attack at a Sydney beach on Saturday, authorities said, in the latest of a spate of shark attacks off Australia’s coast.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in the east of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in the morning on reports that the 35-year-old had been bitten by a large shark about 30 metres (100 feet) from the shore.
“The woman was pulled from the water by members of the public who commenced first aid,” police said in a statement, adding that the victim suffered serious arm and leg injuries.
“She has large flesh wounds to the leg and the arms that are going to require a lot of surgery,” New South Wales Ambulance Inspector Mike Corlis told reporters at Coogee Beach.
Coogee Beach and others in the city’s Randwick Council area were closed for 24 hours following the attack.
“We’ll be working closely with the New South Wales government, awaiting instruction as to when it is safe to reopen,” council Mayor Dylan Parker told reporters.
A witness to the attack, Nicola Logan, told Reuters at Coogee Beach that she saw a “massive pool of blood” in the water, then “a lady kind of motioning to swim, lots of splashing, and then a ski paddler was out trying to bring her in”.
