Restrictions on drones flying over Australia’s Coogee Beach will be reviewed by a regulator so rescuers can monitor for sharks, after an attack on Saturday left a woman critically injured in the hospital.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in eastern Sydney on Saturday morning following reports that a 35-year-old woman had been bitten by a large shark about 30m (100ft) from the shore.
Paddleboard champion and off-duty lifeguard Charlie Verco, 25, who rescued the woman and brought her to shore, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he was “very scared” when he saw the three-to-four-metre shark near a group of swimmers.
The woman was in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital on Sunday, a spokesperson told Reuters, after she sustained serious injuries to her lower left leg and arms.
Coogee Beach and others in the city’s Randwick Council area were closed for 24 hours following the attack. Drones flew overhead under emergency provisions to scan for sharks.
“It’s been a really tough summer of shark activity and shark attacks in Sydney and it’s something that the NSW government is taking really, really seriously,” said Tara Moriarty, New South Wales state’s minister for agriculture.
Ms Moriarty said the government would consider fresh measures to keep swimmers safe from shark attacks, including using drones and other technology.
Australian lifesavers use drones to help watch for sharks, but Coogee Beach has had restrictions covering commercial drone use because it sits under the flight path of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.
After the attack, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said in a statement that it would look at adapting the current rules.
“I just looked at the beach, tried to signal to the lifeguards, a big code X, to get them to understand how it was going on out there, clear the water if they could, and get the power craft out there,” he said.
“She ended up getting taken underwater for a second. I couldn’t see where she was because it was all red. And luckily, she popped up and shark had let her go and I was able to get close enough to bring her into shore.
“There, they were met by lifeguards, police and medical experts, after which the woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital.”
Australia has seen a spate of shark attacks this year. Most shark attacks occur along the east and southeast seaboard of Australia, which averages around 20 such incidents a year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
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