SYDNEY, June 13 (Reuters) – A woman swimmer was seriously injured in a shark attack at a Sydney beach on Saturday, authorities said, in the latest of a spate of shark attacks off Australia’s coast.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in the east of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in the morning on reports that the 30-year-old had been bitten, police said in a statement.
“The woman was pulled from the water by members of the public who commenced first aid,” police said, adding that the victim suffered serious arm and leg injuries.
She was taken by helicopter to hospital, police said.
Coogee Beach and two others nearby were closed on Saturday following the attack.
A week earlier, a man died after being attacked by a shark while fishing off the coast of Western Australia state, in the latest fatal incident.
Last month, a 39-year-old man died after being attacked while fishing on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Ten days earlier, a 38-year-old was fatally fatally mauled off an island near Perth in Western Australia.
Dozens of beaches along Australia’s east coast, including in Sydney, were closed in January after four shark attacks in two days. Those followed heavy rain that created murky water, attracting sharks and reducing their visibility.
Most shark attacks occur along the east and southeast seaboard of Australia, which averages around 20 such incidents a year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)
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