A woman has died and a man is in hospital after a shark attack on the New South Wales coast.
The pair, believed to be in their 20s, were swimming at Kylies Beach in Crowdy Bay National Park early Thursday when they were mauled by what authorities say was a bull shark.
Emergency services were called at around 6:30am on Thursday, where they found a man and a woman severely injured.
Paramedics treated both at the scene before the man was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in critical condition; his condition was later upgraded to serious but stable. The woman tragically died at the scene.
Authorities commended a bystander who applied a makeshift tourniquet to the man’s leg before paramedics arrived, action they say “potentially saved his life.”
NSW Ambulance Superintendent Josh Smyth said the intervention was “heroic.”
“The courage from some bystanders is amazing in this situation,” he said. “To put yourself out there is heroic, and it gave us the time we needed to get to that male patient.”
Many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world. They live in warm, coastal waters and can swim far up rivers and into freshwater. They are known for being aggressive and territorial and may attack out of curiosity or due to poor visibility.
There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of shark encounters with humans.
Of the total number of recorded incidents since records began, 212 involved bull sharks.
Steven Pearce, Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive, described it as "a really, really terrible incident".
"This area is so remote, there's no lifeguarding services up there at all," he told local radio station 2GB.
