A woman has been killed by a shark and a man seriously injured at a popular beach in Australia.
Emergency services were alerted to the attack at Crowdy Bay National Park, near Port Macquarie, around 218 miles north of Sydney, at 6.30am local time on Thursday.
They were responding to reports two people had been bitten by a shark.
The pair had entered the water at Kylies Beach, a popular surfing spot, for an early morning swim.
The woman, who is believed to be in her 20s, died at the scene. She has not yet been identified.
The man, also understood to be in his 20s, was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
He is now said to be in a serious but stable condition, with police believing a bystander’s first aid may have prevented a double fatality.
Police Chief Inspector Timothy Bayly said: “I just really need to have a shoutout to the bystander on the beach who put a makeshift tourniquet on the male’s leg which obviously potentially saved his life and allowed New South Wales Ambulance paramedics to get to him and render first aid.”
The officer did not give any further details of the injuries or circumstances of the attack.
He said: “At this stage, all I’m prepared to say is they were known to each other and they were going for a swim and the shark attacked.”
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Shark attacks on two people are very rare, experts say. File pic: iStock
Experts said it is rare for a shark to attack more than one person.
Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida‘s shark research programme, said: “It is very unusual. Individual shark attacks are rare. And shark attacks on two people by the same individual is not unheard of, but it’s very rare.”
He added: “Sometimes 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.
“The few bites that we do have where a single shark has bitten multiple people, it’s usually tiger sharks. We’ve never seen white sharks do that unless somebody’s heroically jumping in the way.”
The beach – known for camping, fishing spots and hiking tracks – has been closed to the public as authorities work to determine the species of shark involved.