SYDNEY, Australia — Three shark attacks were reported at Sydney beaches in just over 24 hours, leaving a man and a young boy in critical condition and another child narrowly escaping injury, police confirmed Monday.
Authorities said a man in his 20s and a 12-year-old boy suffered severe leg injuries and were hospitalized, while an 11-year-old boy was unharmed after a shark bit his surfboard.
A man was in critical condition Monday after being bitten by a shark at Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Jan. 19. Emergency services were called to North Steyne Beach at about 6:20 p.m. local time after reports that a surfer had been attacked.
Members of the public pulled the man from the water and began first aid before emergency crews arrived. NSW Ambulance paramedics treated him for serious leg injuries before transporting him to a hospital, where he remained in critical condition.
In a separate incident, a 12-year-old boy was also listed in critical condition after being bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour late Sunday afternoon. Emergency services were called around 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 18 to the Hermitage Foreshore Walk near Shark Beach following reports of a shark attack.
Officers from Marine Area Command and Eastern Suburbs Police rescued the boy from the water within minutes. Water Police applied two medical tourniquets, and the boy received immediate first aid on board a police vessel for serious leg injuries before being taken to Children’s Hospital at Randwick in critical condition.
Police said the injuries were consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark.
Authorities credited the boy’s three friends with saving his life by jumping from nearby rocks during the attack and dragging him back to shore. Superintendent Joseph McNulty said their actions were brave and occurred under extremely confronting circumstances. Media reports later said the boy lost both legs in the attack.
The third incident occurred around noon Monday when an 11-year-old boy was on a surfboard at Dee Why Beach, north of Manly. A shark bit off a portion of the surfboard, but the child was not injured.
Local officials said Sydney’s northern beaches, including North Steyne and Dee Why, would remain closed until further notice. All three locations where the incidents occurred have some form of shark protection netting, though it was not immediately clear how close the attacks were to those barriers.
Authorities suspect bull sharks may be responsible for at least the first two attacks. Police had warned after the initial incident that recent heavy rainfall in Sydney increased murky freshwater conditions in the harbor, raising the risk of bull shark activity.
Dee Why Beach is located near Ocean Reef Beach, where a 57-year-old surfer was killed by a suspected great white shark last September. In November, a 25-year-old Swiss tourist was killed and her partner seriously injured while swimming off a national park north of Sydney.
