A woman was left fighting for her life after being attacked by a shark near one of the busiest beaches in Sydney on Saturday.
Despite suffering significant injuries, she managed to hold onto a lifeguard’s rescue board long enough to be brought safely back to shore.
The 35-year-old was swimming about 30 meters from Coogee Beach with two friends when the shark suddenly attacked shortly after 11 a.m., according to officials.
Emergency crews said she sustained severe wounds to both her arm and leg.
A nearby lifeguard spotted the incident while out on a paddleboard and rushed toward her. As he approached, the shark dragged the woman beneath the surface.
Second later, she resurfaced, allowing the lifeguard to reach her.
While she was too badly injured to climb onto the board herself, he was able to pull her alongside and start making his way back to the beach.
People in the water and onshore quickly joined the rescue effort, helping get the woman out of the water.
Among those who rushed to help was an off-duty doctor who had been spending time at the beach with his family. He and several others used tourniquets to control the bleeding while waiting for paramedics.
The injuries were described as extensive, with large sections of tissue missing from her thigh and arm.
After receiving emergency treatment on the sand, the woman was moved to a nearby sports field and airlifted to hospital.
According to officials, she remained in critical condition.
Lifeguards believe the attack involved a great white shark measuring roughly 3.4 meters in length.
The attack is the latest in a series of shark incidents in Australia.
Since mid-May, three spearfishers have been killed in separate shark attacks around the country, bringing this year’s shark-related death toll to four.
Earlier this year, a 12-year-old boy was also killed after a bull shark attack in Sydney Harbour.
According to Australia’s shark incident database, the country usually sees two or three fatal shark attacks each year.
Experts say encounters between sharks and people have become more common as Australia’s population grows and more people spend time in the water surfing and diving.
