Sydney beaches close after first fatal shark attack in 60 years
FILE PHOTO: A surfer carries his board into the water next to a sign declaring a shark sighting on Sydney’s Manly Beach, Australia, November 24, 2015. REUTERS/David Gray//File Photo
SYDNEY — Several beaches in Sydney, including the iconic Bondi and Bronte, were shut down on Thursday after a swimmer was killed in a shark attack, the first such fatality at the city’s beaches in nearly 60 years.
Drum lines, which are used to bait sharks, have been set up near the attack site while drones have been deployed as officials search if the shark is still in the area.
A video shared online showed a shark attacking a person on Wednesday afternoon off Little Bay beach, about 20 km (12 miles) south of Australia’s largest city and near the entrance to Botany Bay. Police have not yet disclosed the identity of the swimmer.
“This has been a complete shock for our community,” Dylan Parker, the mayor of Randwick Council which includes Little Bay, told Reuters. “Our coastline is our back yard and to have a tragic death under such horrifying circumstances is completely shocking.”
The attack comes days before the Murray Rose Malabar Magic Ocean Swim, an annual charity event usually attended by thousands of swimmers at a neighboring beach. Organizers said they were monitoring the situation and if the event had to be postponed it would be held on March 6.
A spokesperson for the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries said its shark biologists believe that a white shark at least 3 meters (9.8 feet) in length was likely responsible for the attack. It was the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963, data showed.
Authorities have ordered people to remain out of the water on a hot summer day as temperatures hovered around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
“A few crazy surfers still go out and take the risk but most of us take notice and just stay out of the water until the sharks have gone. It’s a lot more dangerous driving to be quite honest,” local resident Karen Romalis told Reuters.
RELATED STORIES
Marine rescuers work to free whale caught in shark net on Gold Coast
Kid loses arm, 4 others injured in Egypt shark attack
Teenage surfer killed by shark, 2nd in Australia in a week
Shark bites 2 British men on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Shark bites child in US, third in a month in same state
