13-Year-Old Mauled by Shark in Sydney Harbour, Critically Injured

A boy believed to be about 13 was attacked by a shark while swimming off Shark Beach in Sydney Harbour on Sunday, sustaining serious leg wounds and being taken to hospital in critical condition, authorities said. The incident is at least the third confirmed shark attack worldwide in under a month.

New South Wales state police said the predator bit the boy in the late afternoon near the harbour-side beach at Vaucluse. "The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark," police said in a statement.

Rapid Rescue and Medical Response

Officers reached the scene within minutes of being alerted and pulled the boy from the water. While aboard a police boat, they administered first aid for his "serious" leg injuries and applied two medical tourniquets. Paramedics then transported him to Sydney Children's Hospital, where he remained in critical condition.

Local Impact and Investigation

Police warned swimmers to avoid nearby waters while Shark Beach in Vaucluse was closed and nearby harbour beaches were evacuated. Wildlife specialists are working to identify the species involved and to determine circumstances surrounding the attack.

"This is a tragic shark attack on a young boy having a swim on a Sunday afternoon near a harbour beach in Sydney's east," said New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty. "Our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. I understand there were also other young people with him at the time of the attack; our thoughts are also with them."

Context and Trends

According to a long-running database of interactions between sharks and humans, there have been more than 1,280 recorded shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 were fatal. The International Shark Attack File — a global database maintained by the University of Florida — noted that a disproportionate share of shark-related deaths in 2023 occurred in Australia compared with other countries.

Scientists say a combination of factors may be contributing to recent increases in encounters: increasingly crowded coastal waters, changes in shark migration patterns linked to warming oceans, and localized changes in prey and fishing practices. These dynamics can increase the likelihood of shark-human interactions even as overfishing affects some populations.

Recent deadly incidents in the region and abroad include a fatal great white shark attack on a surfer at a northern Sydney ocean beach in September and a fatal bull shark attack off a remote northern Sydney beach two months later. Less than two weeks ago, a 56-year-old woman from Minnesota died after a shark attack in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Earlier this month, authorities in California confirmed that 55-year-old Erica Fox died from shark-related injuries after she went missing in Monterey Bay; the coroner attributed her death to "sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack."

Authorities said they will continue to investigate and update the public as more information becomes available.