Shark Attack Australia: Shark kills scuba diver

Shark Attack Australia: Shark kills scuba diver

Beaches closed after shark death
By: Oliver Koester
January 09, 2006 __________________________________________________________________________
 
THE shocking shark death of a 21-year-old female scuba diver has overwhelmed the carefree holiday haven of North Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane.

The woman, from McDowall on Brisbane's northside, was among a group of friends from a church group swimming in waist-deep water 15 metres offshore in an area known as Rainbow Channel when the shark attacked. The woman's dog had also been in the water. The shark ripped off both the woman's arms and badly mauled her torso and legs at Amity Point about 5pm (AEST).

The woman was brought to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital by helicopter immediately, where she died due to the perilous injuries caused by the shark. "She had lost significant amounts of blood," and was barely alive when the Ambulance reached her, said Queensland Ambulance paramedic Lachlan Parker to ABC radio.

While police and fisherman search waters off the Moreton Bay island for the shark that attacked in waist deep water yesterday, beaches within a 2km radius east and west of Amity Point have been closed to protect holiday makers and residents from a potential new attack.

Authorities said it was not clear what species of shark was responsible for the death. According to South Australian based shark expert Andrew Fox, it would be no surprise, if a bull shark, a species aggressive at this time of year, was involved. "It may mean the bull sharks have moved into the area and are feeding and they're a pretty large, robust shark," Mr Fox told Sky News.

The fact the woman was both swimming with an animal and late in the afternoon could have contributed to the shark attack, he explained. "It's known ... not to swim with animals – I don't know how much that contributed in this particular case but it's a certainly one of the guidelines," Mr Fox said.

He denied there had been an increase in shark attacks across Australia in recent years. "There's definitely been a bigger increase in the attention to shark attack ... with a lot of photographs being put into the media it makes us more aware," he said, but "statistically there's very little change in recent years."

The risk of shark attack was and is still "very, very low compared to just about any other form of danger," he said. But he advises swimmers to minimise the threat by avoiding waters in the early morning or late afternoon and swimming near deep water channels.

"A lot of attacks are in shallow water – that's got to do with 99.9 per cent of people usually staying in shallow water – but deeper water is even more of a risk," he said.


Resource: News.com.au - January 09, 2006