A teenage boy is in critical condition after being mauled by a large shark at Shark Beach in Sydney Harbour, prompting warnings to swimmers.
SYDNEY: A teenage boy is fighting for his life after a shark mauled him in Sydney Harbour on Sunday.
New South Wales police said the boy, believed to be about 13 years old, was bitten in the late afternoon off Shark Beach in the suburb of Vaucluse.
“The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark,” police said in a statement.
Officers pulled the teen from the water within minutes of the alert and administered first aid aboard a police boat.
They applied two medical tourniquets to treat serious leg injuries before paramedics transported him to Sydney Children’s Hospital.
The boy remained in a critical condition following the attack.
“Swimmers are advised to avoid entering nearby waters at this time,” police warned.
Scientists suggest increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures may be contributing to a rise in shark encounters.
These factors can sway sharks’ migratory patterns despite overfishing depleting some species.
Australia has recorded more than 1,280 shark incidents since 1791, with over 250 resulting in death.
The attack follows two fatal shark encounters near Sydney last year.
In September, a great white shark killed surfer Mercury Psillakis at a northern Sydney beach.
Two months later, a bull shark killed a woman swimming off a remote beach north of the city.
