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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Twelve year-old girl mauled by shark in Australia

By Agencies
September 21, 2018

SYDNEY: A12-year-old girl was bitten on the leg by a shark in the Whitsunday Islands, a popular tourist spot in north-east Australia, just hours after a 46-year-old woman was attacked in the same area. 

Authorities said the attacks were “confronting” and are planning to install three drum lines attached to baited hooks to try to capture or kill the shark.The latest attack, which left the girl with a serious leg injury, occurred at Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island in the state of Queensland, on Thursday afternoon.

Tracey Eastwick, from the Queensland Ambulance Service, said the girl, who was in the water with her father and sister, was bitten just below the groin and suffered significant blood loss from large wounds on her thigh. She is in hospital in a stable but critical condition.

“It was extremely traumatic for the family,” Ms Eastwick told ABC News.“The injuries today are again a shark attack maul bite to the patient’s thigh area with significant blood loss and serious injuries… For us, as a community of paramedics, it is quite confronting to have two similar incidents in the space of less than 24 hours.”The incident follows an attack on Justine Barwick, an Australian tourist who was pulled out of the water at Cid Harbour after being mauled while snorkelling at about 5pm on Wednesday.