Up to three sharks may have been involved in the fatal attack on a woman off an island in eastern Australia, police said yesterday.
Sarah Whiley, 21, died late on Saturday of severe injuries after being attacked near North Stradbroke Island, east of the Queensland state capital Brisbane.
Queensland police inspector Peter Harding said Whiley was swimming with a group of friends from a church group when she was pulled underwater for about five seconds then emerged and called out "Shark!"
PHOTO: EPA
"Of course people at the time thought she was only joking ... until they saw the blood," he told reporters yesterday.
Harding said officers were searching for the sharks and had closed several nearby beaches.
"If we found them [the sharks] I suppose we would try to retrieve them and see if they have any body parts," Harding said. "The idea is to retrieve what we can."
Whiley was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital where she had to have both arms amputated just below the elbow, according to Queensland Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman Helen Anderson. Wiley also suffered deep wounds to her legs and torso, Anderson said.
Harding said the severity of Whiley's injuries indicated she may have been attacked by a group of bull sharks, a species known for aggressive behavior this time of year.
"She was bleeding quite heavily ... [from] what I've seen and what I've been told, there was more than one shark involved, there could have been up to three," Harding said.
Contrary to earlier reports, Harding said there was no dog with the woman at the time. Swimming with animals could bring on a shark attack, Australian shark expert Andrew Fox told Sky News earlier.
Harding added the woman was swimming in water "anything from chest-deep to 30 feet [9m]."
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was