While swimming with dolphins in Western Australia’s state capital Perth on Saturday, a 16-year-old girl died following being attacked by a shark after jumping into a river on the country’s west coast. The police have said that they were called to the location of the attack at about 3:45 p.m. Saturday in the Fremantle area of Perth, near a traffic bridge crossing the Swan River.
The victim and friends had jumped off a jet ski to swim with the dolphins when the unfortunate incident occurred. After the girl was pulled from the water with critical injuries, she was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency personnel, police said in a statement.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that officials were unsure of the type of shark that attacked the teenager, but local media claim it was a bull shark, which marine biologists say is rarely aggressive.
As a result of the mauling, people were advised to take extra caution in the Swan River around Fremantle.
There has not been a deadly shark attack in Western Australian waters since November 2021, in which a 57-year-old man was killed by a great white shark at Port Beach, Perth.
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Western Australia is home to more than 100 species of shark, with bull sharks often found many kilometres upriver. Shark attacks in the state are low, according to the state government, which has established a dedicated shark response unit to assist first responders.
According to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File, Australia was ranked second in the number of unprovoked shark attacks on humans in 2021, behind only the United States.
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