City records first fatal shark attack in almost 60 years

Sydney paramedics responded to the incident, but the victim’s injuries were too “catastrophic”

One person has died in a shark attack – the first in Sydney, Australia in 58 years. Ambulance workers responded to the incident in the Malabar suburb at around 4:35pm local time, pronouncing the victim dead.

According to witnesses, the swimmer was in the water when the “shark came and attacked him vertically,” describing the scene as looking “like a car had landed in the water.” The shark was estimated to be around 4.5 meters (~15 feet) in size. No information was immediately provided by authorities on the identity of the victim.

“Unfortunately, this patient had suffered catastrophic injuries and there was nothing paramedics could do,” a spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said, after emergency workers attended the scene at Buchan Point, Malabar.

A police statement confirmed that “human remains” had been recovered from the water following a search by marine crews and surf lifesavers. Little Bay Beach was closed following the incident. Authorities will now prepare a report for the coroner after leasing with the Department of Primary Industries.

Large scale search underway off Little Bay in Sydney’s south east after reported shark attack. A rock fisherman says saw a swimmer taken. @abcnews pic.twitter.com/yGHpQgd2nV

— Jake Lapham (@JakeLapham) February 16, 2022

“Our community adores our coast. To lose someone like this is chilling to the core,” the mayor of Randwick council, Dylan Parker, said, describing the incident as having left him “absolutely shocked.”

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The deadly incident marks the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963, with the regional New South Wales state government spending millions in recent years to deploy technology to deter shark attacks along the seafront.

Nets have been placed at 51 beaches, with drones and listening stations used to track sharks and alert authorities if one is approaching an area with swimmers.