MELBOURNE, Australia: A shark killed a woman and seriously wounded a man taking an early morning swim with her at a national park beach on Australia’s east coast Thursday, police said.
Experts say a shark rarely attacks more than one person.
The attack occurred at Crowdy Bay National Park, which is known for beach camping, fishing spots and hiking tracks 360 kilometers (224 miles) north of Sydney.
Beaches in the area and to the north of the attack were closed to swimmers indefinitely, Police Chief Insp. Timothy Bayly said.
Emergency services were called to Kylies Beach following reports that two people in their mid-20s had been bitten by a shark at 6:30 a.m., Bayly said.
Bayly declined to detail the injuries or the circumstances of the attack. “At this stage, all I’m prepared to say is they were known to each other and they were going for a swim and the shark attacked,” Bayly told reporters.
A bystander helped the pair on the beach before ambulance paramedics arrived, but the woman died at the scene.
The man was flown by helicopter to a hospital, and paramedic Josh Smyth said the man’s condition was serious but stable.
Smyth said the bystander’s first aid might have prevented a double fatality.
“I just really need to have a shoutout to the bystander on the beach who put a makeshift tourniquet on the male’s leg which obviously potentially saved his life and allowed New South Wales Ambulance paramedics to get to him and render first aid,” Smyth told reporters.
The identities of the man and woman were not released.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said the two were Swiss nationals. “The Swiss Consulate General in Sydney is in contact with the local authorities and is supporting the relatives within the framework of consular protection,” it said in a statement.
Scientists had determined the couple had been attacked by a large bull shark, a state government statement said.
Five drumlines — baited hooks suspended from floats — were deployed off Kylies Beach in an attempt to catch the shark, the government said.
Drumlines had already been put in place to the north at Port Macquarie and to the south at Forster to reduce shark numbers.
Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida’s shark research program and manager of the International Shark Attack File database, said a single shark attacking more than one person was exceptionally rare.
“It is very unusual. Individual shark attacks are rare. And shark attacks on two people by the same individual is not unheard of, but it’s very rare,” Naylor said.
Naylor said he would need to know details of the sequence of the shark’s behavior Thursday to understand what had motivated it to bite.
Two British tourists were attacked by a single shark while snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s northeast coast in 2019. One lost a foot and the other suffered leg injuries.
A shark fatally mauled a surfer off a Sydney beach in September. Two sections of the surfboard were recovered.
Shark kills woman, seriously wounds another swimmer in Australia
https://arab.news/9f3hd
Shark kills woman, seriously wounds another swimmer in Australia
- Experts say a single shark attacking more than one person is extremely rare
- Bystander praised for helping save life of victim who survived
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
