A teenage girl has died after she was bit by a shark in northeastern Australia on Monday, according to local authorities.
Paramedics responded to reports of a “serious shark bite incident” at Woorim Beach, a popular tourist destination in Queensland, around 4:45 p.m. local time, the Queensland Ambulance Service wrote on X.
The 17-year-old girl had been swimming on the southeast end of Bribie Island, where the beach sits, when she was bit by the shark.
In a statement, Queensland Ambulance confirmed the girl suffered from serious injuries to her upper body. She died about 15 minutes later, Queensland Police said in a statement. The agency is preparing a report about the incident for the coroner.
The beach where the attack occurred will remain closed “until further notice,” per ABC News. Christopher Potter, a local, told the outlet in an interview that the news of the attack was shocking.
“There are a lot of swimming groups that swim along here, morning and afternoon,” Potter told ABC News. “It’s known there are a lot of sharks around Bribie, but this close to shore, it’s still a shock.”
Australia has seen 3 shark attacks in last few months, reports say
The attack was the second shark fatality in the country’s waters this year, about a month after surfer Lance Appleby was killed off the Southern Australia coast, per BBC and CBS News. It was also the third attack in Queensland in less than three months, ABC News reported.
Luke Walford, 40, was fatally attacked while spearfishing with his family on island off the Central Queensland coast, according to ABC News. Another man, who was also spearfishing, was also hospitalized after a shark attack earlier this month, reported ABC News.
How common are shark attacks in Australia?
According to the Queensland Government, “shark bites in Queensland happen rarely and most shark species do not pose a risk to people.”
Taronga Conservation Society Australia, a local conservation organization, said there were a total of four fatal shark bites in Australia last year.
On average, there have been 20 shark incidents each where people were injured, in the last decade. There were on average 2.8 fatalities each year and seven incidents where the person was uninjured, the organization said.
This article was originally published by a www.usatoday.com . Read the Original article here. .