Woman dies after attack by sharks

Up to three sharks may have been involved in the fatal mauling of a 21-year-old woman off an island in eastern Australia, police said today.

The woman, whose identity was not released, died late yesterday of severe injuries after being attacked in waist-deep water near North Stradbroke Island, east of the Queensland state capital Brisbane.

Queensland state police inspector Peter Harding said officers were searching for the sharks and had closed several nearby beaches to avoid a possible repeat attack.

“If we found them (the sharks) I suppose we would try to retrieve them and see if they have any body parts,” Harding said. “The idea is to retrieve what we can.”

The woman was swimming with a group of friends from a church group in shallow water about 50 feet offshore when the shark attacked, local media reports said. The woman’s dog had also been in the water.

The woman was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital where she had to have both arms amputated just below the elbow, according to Queensland Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman Helen Anderson.

She also suffered deep wounds to her legs and torso, Anderson said.

Harding said the severity of the woman’s injuries indicated she may have been attacked by a group of bull sharks, a species known for their aggressive behaviour at this time of year.

“She was bleeding quite heavily ... (from) what I’ve seen and what I’ve been told, there was more than one shark involved, there could have been up to three,” Harding said.

Paramedics who arrived on the scene said the woman was barely alive when they reached her.

“She had lost significant amounts of blood,” Queensland Ambulance paramedic Lachlan Parker told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation today.

“The patient had what we call altered level of consciousness where (we weren’t) able to communicate directly with (her),” he said.

It was not immediately clear what type of shark attacked the woman, but Australian shark expert Andrew Fox said the fact the woman was swimming with an animal and late in the afternoon could have contributed to the attack.

“It’s known ... not to swim with animals – I don’t know how much that contributed in this particular case but it’s a certainly one of the guidelines,” Fox told Sky News.