A shark killed a swimmer off a Sydney beach on Wednesday, causing “catastrophic injuries,” according to police and paramedic services. It was the city’s first fatal attack in nearly 60 years.
Witnesses informed local news that they saw a swimmer in a wetsuit being attacked.
Witness Kris Linto told the media, “Some guy was swimming and a shark rushed up behind him and attacked him vertically.”
“When we turned back, it appeared like a car had landed in the water with a tremendous splash, and the shark was nibbling on the body with blood all over the place.”
The shark was judged to be 4.5 metres long by another witness.
“There were so many splashes when he went down,” a witness who had been fishing on adjacent rocks told the reporters.
The state government of New South Wales has spent millions of dollars on technology in an effort to minimise shark attacks along its coast, placing nets at 51 beaches, as well as drones and shark listening stations that can watch white sharks via satellite and give an alert when one is spotted.
According to records, it was Sydney’s first deadly shark attack since 1963.
Emergency services were dispatched to Buchan Point, Malabar, in Sydney‘s east, at around 4:35 p.m. (0535 GMT), according to NSW police. The beach in Little Bay has been closed, according to the report.
“Officers from the Eastern Beaches Police Area Command attended and located human remains in the sea, with assistance from the Marine Area Command and Surf Life Saving NSW,” it added.
The authorities provided no information concerning the swimmer’s identification.
“Unfortunately, this patient had received catastrophic injuries and there was nothing paramedics could do,” a NSW Ambulance spokesman said, adding that paramedics were sent to Little Bay.
