A morning swim turned deadly as a shark attacked the couple just after sunrise.
A deadly shark attack shocked Australia’s east coast today after a woman was killed and a man severely injured while swimming at dawn in Crowdy Bay National Park, located 360 km north of Sydney.
Police say the couple, both around 25, were bitten shortly after 6:30 a.m. A passerby rushed to help them before emergency crews arrived, but the woman died on the beach. The man was airlifted to the hospital in serious but stable condition. Media outlets report the pair were European tourists, though authorities have not confirmed their identities.
All beaches in the area have been closed indefinitely.
Shark experts call the attack “highly unusual”. According to Dr. Gavin Naylor, head of the International Shark Attack File, incidents where a single shark targets two people are extremely rare — though not unheard of. A similar case occurred in 2019 on the Great Barrier Reef, when two British tourists were attacked by the same shark.
The tragedy follows another fatal shark attack near Sydney in September, when a surfer was killed.