Woman killed in shark attack on NSW beach and man taken to hospital in critical condition | Sharks

A woman has died after a shark attack on the NSW mid north coast at Kylies Beach.

New South Wales Police said the woman, aged in her 20s, was killed on Crowdy Bay beach on Thursday morning.

Emergency services were called to the beach at around 6.30am because a shark had bitten two people.

“Witnesses assisted both men before paramedics from NSW Ambulance arrived; however, the woman died at the scene,” a police spokesperson said.

A man – also believed to be in his 20s – was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition. His condition subsequently improved to become serious but stable.

Police Chief Inspector Timothy Bayly said Thursday that “they knew each other.” [and] They were going to swim” at that time.

Kylies Beach was closed and police were liaising with experts from the Department of Primary Industries to determine the species of sharks involved. A report was to be prepared for the coroner.

A DPI spokesperson said “a female swimmer died and a man was seriously injured following the incident”.

The department deployed five “smart” battery lines on Kylies Beach. “Real-time shark management alert” drum lines used in New South Wales are a non-lethal tagging method that attracts sharks using baited hooks.

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When an animal is hooked, operators receive a ping and get to the scene in 17 minutes on average. The shark is tagged, released further offshore, then tracked by satellite and acoustically.

Surf Life Saving NSW said Kylies and nearby beaches would be closed for at least 24 hours. Drones were monitoring the area.

The isolated stretch of coastline was unpatrolled, with the nearest surf club at Crowdy Head to the south, the organization said.

“This is a terrible tragedy and our deepest sympathies go out to the families of the woman and man involved,” Steve Pearce, chief executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, said on Thursday.

“We were able to quickly activate our drone capabilities and have assets on-site to provide surveillance and report any remaining hazards in the area. For now, stay away from the water at nearby beaches.”

The woman’s death comes less than three months after Mercury Psillakis was killed by a 3.5 meter great white shark on Sydney’s Long Reef beach in early September.

This year there have been five shark bite fatalities in Australia.

In 2024, 13 unprovoked bites resulted in no deaths, 10 fewer unprovoked bites than in 2023, when there were four deaths. In 2020, seven unprovoked fatal attacks took place.

“Generally speaking, across Australia and over the last two decades there has been an increase in the number of shark bites,” Professor Charlie Huveneers, director of the Marine and Coastal Research Consortium at Flinders University, told Guardian Australia after Psillakis’ death.

More people are using water than ever before – but that’s only part of the explanation.

Coastal population growth, climate degradation, habitat impoverishment, reliance on water sports, weather anomalies, prey distribution and even better wetsuits — which keep us in the water longer and during cooler months — are among 40 factors that, depending on location, are likely to have contributed to the increase, Huveneers said in September.

Deaths are another story. Rob Harcourt, emeritus professor of marine ecology at Macquarie University, said the number of deaths from shark bites today is likely the same or lower than in the 1930s, per capita, due to faster emergency responses, tourniquet kits in every surf lifesaving club and first aid training.