Sydney, Feb 4 (UNI) A 17-year-old girl died on Monday after being attacked by a shark at a beach on Bribie Island off the coast of Queensland, about 50 km north of Brisbane.
Emergency services were called to the scene shortly before 5 p.m. local time. The Queensland Police Service said that the girl sustained life-threatening injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene just after 5 p.m.
Nine Network television reported that the girl was swimming about 100 meters off shore when she was bitten on the arm.
Surf Life Saving Queensland said in a statement that the beach would remain closed until further notice.
Local resident Christopher Potter told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that there are a lot of sharks around the island but that an attack so close to shore was a “shock.”
It is the third shark attack in Queensland during the current summer.
A 40-year-old man was killed on Dec. 28 when he was attacked by a shark while spearfishing in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef.
On Dec. 2, a man aged in his 60s was hospitalized after also being attacked while spearfishing.
