Shark mauls dive in Sydney a day after being bitten by a boy, who was seriously injured while swimming with friends

A shark killed a diver in Sydney on Monday in the third shark attack in the Australian city in two days, authorities said.

A diver, believed to be in his 20s, is in a critical condition in hospital with serious leg injuries after the attack at a beach north of Sydney, police said.

“The man was pulled from the water by members of the public who started first aid before emergency services arrived,” the New South Wales state police said in a statement.

All beaches north of Sydney are closed until further notice.

The attack at North Steyne Beach in the suburb of Manly came hours after a shark bit off a large part of a young surfer’s board 2.5 miles north of Dee Why Point.

That diver, who is reported to be an 11-year-old boy, was not injured but the beach was immediately closed.

On Sunday, a large shark bit a 12-year-old boy on the legs as he played with friends in the beach in Sydney Harbour, leaving him fighting for his life in hospital.

The boy and his friends were jumping off a 20-meter rock into the water at Shark Beach in the eastern Vaucluse area when the animal attacked, police said.

“It was a shocking incident when the police attended. We believe it was a bull shark that attacked the boy’s lower limbs,” said Superintendent Joseph McNulty, New South Wales marine police commander.

“That boy is fighting for his life now,” he told reporters on Monday.

The “perfect storm” of shark attacks

Recent heavy rains have flooded the bay, and authorities believe the combination of salty ocean water and children’s splashing has created a “perfect storm” for shark attacks, McNulty said.

He warned people not to go swimming in harbors or other river systems in New South Wales because of the dangers.

He praised the little boy’s “brave” friends for pulling him out of the water on Sunday.

Officers put the unconscious child into a police cruiser and gave him first aid, using two tourniquets to stop the bleeding in his legs, McNulty said.

They tried to revive the boy as they made their way across the harbor towards the port where paramedics were waiting.

The child, confirmed by police to be 12 years old, was being held at Sydney Children’s Hospital surrounded by family and friends, McNulty said.

There have been more than 1,280 shark attacks around Australia since 1791, more than 250 of which resulted in death, according to the Predator Encounters database.

The International Shark Attack File, a database of worldwide shark attacks run by the University of Florida, noted that a an “unbalanced” population. died from shark bites in Australia in 2023 compared to other countries around the world.

Increasingly dense waters and rising ocean temperatures that appear to be affecting shark migration patterns may be contributing to the increase in attacks despite overfishing killing some species, scientists say.

Great white shark broken surfer Mercury Psillakis death on Sydney’s famous north beach in September.

Two months later, a A bull shark killed a woman swimming from the sea far north of Sydney.

Two Americans have been killed by sharks in the past month. Less than two weeks ago, he was 56 years old a Minnesota woman died after a shark attack in the US Virgin Islands.

Earlier this month, authorities in California certified that 55-year-old Erica Fox was killed in a shark attack. He went missing in Monterey Bay in late December. The coroner ruled that Fox died of “sharp and blunt force trauma and drowning as a result of a shark attack.”