A teenage surfer was in stable condition after he was bitten by a shark yesterday at the same Australian beach where a Japanese surfer was fatally bitten last year, officials said.
Cooper Allen, a 17-year-old high school student, was surfing with friends on the first day of the students’ spring vacation when he was attacked off Ballina’s Lighthouse Beach, Australia, at mid-morning, Ballina Mayor David Wright said.
The shark struck from behind and bit across the board’s fins as the boy lay on the board paddling. The shark’s lower jaw tore into the fiberglass as its upper teeth clamped his right hip and thigh, Wright said.
Photo: AFP / NSW DEPARTMENT oF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
“The shark lacerated his leg in three or four places fairly deep,” Wright said. “Luckily the lifeguards were on duty and got down there quickly.”
“He should be okay. It was very close to his artery,” Wright added.
Cooper, a Ballina resident, was taken by ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital, Lismore, where he was in a stable condition, emergency services said.
Police Detective Chief Inspector Cameron Lindsay said teeth marks on the board suggested a great white shark between 2.5 and 3m long.
Police also said a 4m great white was spotted off Lighthouse Beach later in the morning.
In February last year, Japanese tourist Tadashi Nakahara, 41, died after losing both his legs to a great white 3 to 4m long while surfing at Lighthouse Beach.
Four shark attacks in the Ballina area have required hospital treatment since that tragedy and there have been many more near misses, Wright said.
The New South Wales state government last month abandoned plans to safeguard Lighthouse Beach with a 700m nylon shark barrier.
Three attempted trials “identified significant installation and maintenance issues,” the state government said.
Cooper, who had been a friend of Nakahara, told the Australian newspaper in July that such a barrier would be a waste of money.
“We still go out there without the net, at our own choice. I don’t think there is any need for it,” Cooper told the Australian.
Wright said he was in discussions with the New South Wales state government yesterday to fund surveillance drones to scan the beaches.
Tourism is Ballina’s biggest industry and an increase in shark attacks and scares have reduced visitor numbers in recent months.
New South Wales State Premier Mike Baird said drones would be sent to Ballina and his government was testing other shark protection technologies.
“We can’t guarantee, clearly, at any beach, that people will be safe. But we’ll do everything we can,” Baird told reporters.
All beaches around Ballina, which is on the east coast 600km north of Sydney, will be closed for 24 hours after the attack, police said.
The last fatal attack in Australia was in June, when a 60-year-old diver was killed by a large shark off the west coast city of Perth, Australia.
Less than a week earlier, a 29-year-old surfer died after his leg was bitten off south of Perth.
Australia has averaged fewer than two deadly attacks per year in recent decades.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS