Jan. 19 (UPI) — A 12-year-old boy was in critical condition following a shark attack off Sydney’s coast, authorities said.
Emergency services were called to Hermitage Foreshore Walk near Shark Beach at about 4:20 p.m. local time Sunday in response to reports that a boy had been bitten by a shark, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement.
The boy was rescued from the ocean by Marine Area Command and Eastern Suburbs Police. Two medical tourniquets were used on the boy as they applied first aid for what police called serious leg injuries before he was transported to Children’s Hospital in Randwick in critical condition.
“The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark,” police said.
In an update Monday, Superintendent Joseph McNulty, commander of the NSW Police Marine Area Command, told reporters that the boy was “fighting for his life.”
“It was a horrendous scene at the time when police attended,” he said.
“We believe it was something like a bull shark that attacked the lower limbs of that boy yesterday.”
According to McNulty, the boy and his friends were leaping off a 20-foot rock into the water, which was made brackish by recent heavy rain, when the shark attacked.
“We believe the combination of the brackish water, the fresh water, the actions of the splashing may have made that perfect storm environment for that shark attack,” he said.
According to Taronga Conservation Society Australia, the Oceanic nation sees an average of 20 so shark incidents resulting in people injured a year.