On 4 Feb, a 16-year-old girl passed away after a shark bit her while swimming at a river in North Fremantle, Perth, Australia.
Emergency services arrived but were unable to save her. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
The girl and her friends had been jet-skiing at the river when she reportedly wanted to swim with a pod of dolphins.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the girl was pulled from the river near the Fremantle traffic bridge just after 3.30pm with severe injuries to her leg,
The shark breed is still unknown, despite police inquiries with fisheries and water police. Some witnesses reported that it was a bull shark, however.
The family was not around at the time of the incident, said Acting Inspector Paul Robinson.
Source: The ABC
“However, her friends were, and as you can imagine, this is an extremely traumatic incident for anyone to witness, so obviously, we’re offering counselling services to anyone who did witness it or is affected by the incident,” he said.
He added that there was possibly a pod of dolphins seen nearby, and the young female jumped into the water to swim with the dolphins.
The Guardian reports that the fisheries department advised the police it was unusual for a shark to be so far down the river.
Swan River flows through Perth and into the Indian Ocean.
According to a witness, she heard children screaming and went out to check what was happening. She said a man had dived into the water to rescue the girl.
Another witness heard the girl had been bitten on the leg.
“I didn’t really hear what her injuries were. I heard someone saying it was a very deep cut,” Nathan Vasta, a local resident, told ABC.
Fisheries Minister Don Punch gave his condolences to the girl’s family, stating that the incident incredibly saddened him.
“…I cannot begin to imagine what the victim’s family and friends are going through,” he said.
It is apparently the third shark attack in the Swan River, the last coming in Jan 2021. Investigations are still ongoing.
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Featured image adapted from The ABC.
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