A young woman mauled by a shark in Sydney Harbour is now in a stable condition in hospital and will undergo surgery this afternoon for injuries sustained following the attack.
Emergency services rushed to a private wharf in in Elizabeth Bay at 7.45pm on Monday to find the woman, aged in her 20s or early 30s, with a severe bite to her right leg and suffering ‘major blood loss’.
A vet who was passing by had already applied a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from the woman’s leg and may have saved her life – but there are fears she could lose her leg.
‘She had serious bleeding. Her injuries are severe,’ a NSW Ambulance spokesman told Daily Mail .
A young woman (pictured on the stretcher) has been mauled by a shark in Sydney Harbour
Emergency services rushed to Elizabeth Bay at 7.45pm on Monday to find the woman with a severe bite to her leg and suffering ‘major blood loss’. A blood-stained boardwalk is pictured at the scene
Emergency services personnel are pictured carrying the woman on a stretcher
The vet and her wife Georgia were first on the scene to treat the swimmer and kept her alive until the emergency services arrived.
Georgia said the couple heard a shout and the victim ‘swam up to a boat, but on the way back she got bitten by a bull shark’.
‘We ran out, my wife’s a vet, she basically bandaged it up… bone’s broken, its pretty hectic actually,’ she said.
‘She seems to be OK, she’s in a lot of shock. So am I.
‘We got some bandages, we kept her warm and my wife basically bandaged her up to stop the bleeding.
‘If she got bitten (further) out there, she wouldn’t have survived.’
A resident who lives nearby, called Romain, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he saw the woman try to pull herself out of the water.
‘She had been attacked about 20 metres off from the jetty – there was blood all throughout the water and all over the jetty,’ he said.
Emergency services officers and an ambulance are pictured
The emergency personnel are pictured carrying the injured woman on a stretcher
Georgia (pictured) and her wife, who is a veterinarian, were the first on the scene
Elizabeth Bay resident, Michael, told the Today Show there was blood everywhere.
‘Her leg was sort of trailing behind her … and the water behind her was all red with blood,’ he said.
Michael said she was swimming outside a ‘netted harbour pool,’ and was ‘swimming around the boats’.
He also praised the vet who jumped to here aid.
She was an absolute hero. And I think saved her life,’ he said.
‘She had wraps and tourniquets and just got straight into emergency mode, and we were all just sort of there together as a team.’
The woman was taken by ambulance to St Vincent’s hospital after being treated by a doctor at the scene and remains is now in a stable condition.
A NSW Police spokesperson said the woman was swimming when she was bitten in the right leg, suffering severe lacerations.
‘Police have been told she was swimming off the wharf at the time. Marine Area Command are patrolling the area as a precaution,’ the spokesperson said.
‘(The NSW Department of) Primary Industries will be the agency to determine if the woman was bitten by a shark/what kind of shark.’
City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott said she was ‘extremely concerned’ to hear about the attack.
‘Please, stay out of the harbour until further notice,’ she said on social media.
‘Thank you to the bystanders who stood in to bravely help, and to St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney for their care for the victim.’
In February 2022, British man Simon Nellist was killed by 4.5metre great white shark off Little Bay in Sydney’s south-east.
He was the first confirmed fatal victim in Sydney in 60 years.
A tourniquet was applied to try to stem the bleeding from the woman’s leg
The woman was taken to St Vincent’s hospital after being treated by a doctor and is now in a stable condition
READ MORE: Talented teenage surfer is mauled to death by a shark near Ethel Beach in South
The shark attack happened near Ethel Beach (pictured) in the Innes National Park, on the Yorke Peninsula