Shark attacks boy swimming in Sydney Harbor, leaving him in critical condition

A shark mauled a boy swimming in Sydney Harbor on Sunday, leaving him in critical condition with serious leg injuries, authorities said, marking at least the third shark attack globally in less than a month.

The predator bit the boy, believed to be about 13 years old, during the afternoon at Shark Beach, New South Wales State Police said.

“The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark,” police said in a statement.

Officers pulled the boy from the water on the harbor beach within minutes of being alerted to the incident, police said.

The boy was given first aid for “serious” leg injuries while on board a police boat, applying two medical tourniquets.

Paramedics transported him to Sydney Children’s Hospital, where he was said to be in a critical condition.

“Swimmers are advised to avoid entering nearby waters at this time,” police said.

Shark Beach, in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, was closed and police evacuated nearby beaches in the harbour, the state government said.

Wildlife experts were working to identify the shark species involved, it said in a statement.

“This is a tragic shark attack on a child who was swimming on a Sunday afternoon near a harbor beach in eastern Sydney,” said New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty.

“Our thoughts are with the young man and his family. I understand there were also other young people with him at the time of the attack, our thoughts are with them as well.”

There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents in Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans.

The International Shark Attack File, a database of global shark attacks managed by the University of Florida, noted that a “disproportionate” number of people Died from shark bites in Australia in 2023 compared to other countries in the world.

Increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures that appear to be influencing sharks’ migratory patterns may be contributing to a rise in attacks even though overfishing is depleting some species, scientists say.

A great white shark The mutilated surfer Mercury Psillakis in September on a popular northern Sydney beach.

Two months later, a bull shark killed woman swimming at a remote beach north of Sydney.

The attack on the boy in Sydney Harbor is the third confirmed shark attack in less than a month.

Less than two weeks ago, 56 years Minnesota woman died After a shark attack in the US Virgin Islands.

Earlier this month, authorities in California confirmed that Erica News, 55, died from a shark attack. It disappeared in Monterey Bay at the end of December. The coroner determined that News died from “slash and blunt force injuries and water immersion due to a shark attack.”