A\u00a0shark\u00a0killed a woman and seriously wounded a man taking an early morning swim with her at a national park beach on Australia\u2019s east coast Thursday, police said.<\/p>\n
Experts say a shark rarely attacks more than one person.<\/p>\n
The attack occurred at Crowdy Bay National Park, which is known for beach camping, fishing spots and hiking tracks 224 miles north of Sydney.<\/p>\n
Crowdy Bay beach at Crowdy Head in New South Wales, Australia. Greg Brave \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Beaches in the area and to the north of the attack were closed to swimmers indefinitely, Police Chief Insp. Timothy Bayly said.<\/p>\n
Emergency services were called to Kylies Beach following reports that two people in their mid-20s had been bitten by a shark at 6:30 a.m., Bayly said.<\/p>\n
Bayly declined to detail the injuries or the circumstances of the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage, all I\u2019m prepared to say is they were known to each other and they were going for a swim and the shark attacked,\u201d Bayly told reporters.<\/p>\n
A bystander helped the pair on the beach before ambulance paramedics arrived, but the woman died at the scene.<\/p>\n
The man was flown by helicopter to a hospital, and paramedic Josh Smyth said the man\u2019s condition was serious but stable.<\/p>\n
A bull shark hunts in the waters of Mexico. Subphoto \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Smyth said the bystander\u2019s first aid might have prevented a double fatality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just really need to have a shoutout to the bystander on the beach who put a makeshift tourniquet on the male\u2019s leg which obviously potentially saved his life and allowed New South Wales Ambulance paramedics to get to him and render first aid,\u201d Smyth told reporters.<\/p>\n
The identities of the man and woman were not released. Media reports said they were European tourists.<\/p>\n
Bayly said police would work with experts to determine the species of the shark responsible.<\/p>\n
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Five drumlines \u2014 baited hooks suspended from floats \u2014 were deployed off Kylies Beach in an attempt to catch the shark, the state government said.<\/p>\n
Drumlines had are already in place to the north at Port Macquarie and to the south at Forster to reduce shark numbers.<\/p>\n
Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida\u2019s shark research program and manager of the International Shark Attack File database, said a single shark attacking more than one person was exceptionally rare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very unusual. Individual shark attacks are rare. And shark attacks on two people by the same individual is not unheard of, but it\u2019s very rare,\u201d Naylor said.<\/p>\n
Emergency services were called to Kylies Beach following reports that two people in their mid-20s had been bitten by a shark at 6:30 a.m. Google Earth<\/p>\n
The identities of the man and woman were not released. Media reports said they were European tourists. Google Earth<\/p>\n
Naylor said he would need to know details of the sequence of the shark\u2019s behavior Thursday to understand what had motivated it to bite.<\/p>\n
The context of the attack was also important such as the size of the shark and whether other prey was in its vicinity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes younger sharks are less judicious and they can make mistakes. Where sharks are close to seal colonies and feeding, the probability (of attack) is higher,\u201d Naylor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe few bites that we do have where a single shark has bitten multiple people, it\u2019s usually tiger sharks. We\u2019ve never seen white sharks do that unless somebody\u2019s heroically jumping in the way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Two British tourists were attacked by a single shark while snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia\u2019s northeast coast in 2019.<\/p>\n
One lost a foot and the other suffered leg injuries.<\/p>\n