Shark attacks and seriously injures woman swimming in Sydney Harbor: "I heard a soft yell for help"

A shark mauled a woman in the first attack in Sydney Harbor in 15 years, officials said Tuesday, sending her to hospital with a serious leg injury.

The predator struck Monday evening as the woman swam off a wharf at Elizabeth Bay, about 1.2 miles from Sydney Opera House, police said.

The woman suffered a "serious injury to her right leg," New South Wales police said in a statement.

It was the first shark attack in Sydney Harbor since February 2009, when an Australian navy diver fought off a bull shark that bit him in the arm and leg in Woolloomooloo Bay.

Neighbors rushed to help the Elizabeth Bay victim, identified by the Sydney Morning Herald as 29-year-old Lauren O'Neill.

"I got home from work and sat down on the couch. I heard a soft yell for help just outside the window," nearby resident Michael Porter told reporters.

Outside, he saw the woman trying to climb a ladder out of the harbor's waters.

"Behind her was her leg, which was limp and all completely open and full of dark red blood behind her," Porter said.

"She had obviously been mauled extremely badly by whatever shark it was that got her," he said.

"We have always worried and known about sharks in the harbor," he added. "It's only now that it feels very real."

A veterinarian living nearby gave first aid.

The woman was in a stable condition in intensive care at St Vincent's hospital, a hospital spokesperson said.

She was expected to undergo surgery during the day.

Witnessed posted video of the aftermath on social media and the woman could be seen being transported on a stretcher to an ambulance, local media reported.

Bull shark likely responsible

Analysis of the shark bite and of images provided by the authorities confirmed "a bull shark was likely responsible," said shark scientist Amy Smoothey.

Sharks are "more actively feeding" in low light at dawn and dusk, she told national broadcaster ABC, making it "potentially a high-risk time to be swimming".

Scientists have tagged 87 large bull sharks in Sydney Harbor since 2009, said Smoothey, who works for the New South Wales department of primary industries.

Tagging indicated that bull shark numbers in the harbor were at their highest in the Australian summer months of January and February, she said.

"Shark bites are really rare although they are very tragic when they do occur and my thoughts are with the victim," Smoothey said.

"There are very few interactions that occur in our enclosed waterways but we know that bull sharks are one of the top three species involved in shark bites."

In February 2022, 35-year-old British diving instructor Simon Nellist was killed off Sydney's ocean beach Little Bay in the first fatal attack in the city since 1963.

The International Shark Attack Files, a University of Florida group that aims to compile all known shark attacks, classified the attack on Nellis as "provoked." But that doesn't mean Nellist was responsible for his death, according to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

At the time of the attack on Nellist, several people were fishing from the shore cliffs, Naylor told the Times of London. He said in his blog post that fishing is "known to attract sharks" even if bait or chum aren't used.

In:
• Shark Attack
• Australia