Yesterday morning, two people were attacked by a shark on the NSW Mid North Coast.
A woman died at the scene, while a man is in hospital with serious injuries. They are believed to be Swiss tourists.
Emergency services have credited a bystander with saving the man’s life.
This incident brings the number of reported shark attacks in Australia in 2025 to 20, with this incident marking the fifth fatality.
Details
Emergency services responded to reports two swimmers had been attacked by a shark at Kylie’s Beach yesterday, about an hour south of Port Macquarie.
A woman, believed to be 25-years-old, died from the attack.
Her 26-year-old partner was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
A woman provided first aid to the couple at the beach, including putting a makeshift tourniquet on the man’s leg.
Speaking to media yesterday, NSW Ambulance Superintendent Josh Smyth said the bystander’s help “potentially sav[ed] the man’s life.”
NSW Department of Primary Industries scientists determined a bull shark more than three metres in length was likely involved.
First aid
A tourniquet is a medical device that applies pressure to a limb to slow the flow of blood.
They are used to treat life-threatening bleeding situations, such as a limb amputation or shark attack.
Shark bite response kits usually contain tourniquets, compression bandages, dressings, a whistle, a thermal blanket and instructions.
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They are available at some northern NSW beaches and can be bought online.
If you need to stop bleeding without a shark bite response kit, a 2021 Australian National University (ANU) study found using bodyweight to apply pressure on the femoral artery is an effective way to stop blood flow to the legs.
The femoral artery is the main blood vessel in the lower body.
Participants used a fist to apply their bodyweight onto the midpoint of the artery, between the hip and genitals, stopping blood flow in 89.7% of cases.
In comparison, tourniquets made from surfboard leg ropes reduced blood flow by 43.8% in the study.
Shark attack rates
Taronga Conservation Society operates the Australian Shark Incident Database, which has records dating back to 1791.
The most fatalities caused by shark attacks was in 2020, with eight deaths.
The jump between the number of attacks (fatal or not) in a 10-year period compared to the population increased by 78% from the 1990s to the 2000s.
Since 2020, there have been at least 154 shark attacks, equating to around one in a million Australians each year.
Shark experts at Macquarie University say these attacks “are rare but traumatic events,” which renew talks about mitigation strategies such as nets and drones.
Nets (also called ‘shark meshing’) were first introduced in NSW in 1937, as a way to limit dangerous shark interactions with humans. However, they don’t completely block sharks from accessing beaches.
Government data seen by animal welfare agency Humane Society International in May showed 90% of animals caught in NSW nets over the 2024/25 summer were not sharks.
In September, the NSW Government cancelled plans to reduce the number of shark nets at beaches after a man died from a shark attack in Sydney.
