SYDNEY: A 15-year-old surfer died on Saturday when he was mauled by a shark, the second fatal attack in a week in Australia and at least the fifth in the country this year.

Police said the boy was surfing at Wooli Beach, near Grafton, about 600 kilometres (370 miles) north of Sydney in New South Wales state just before 2:30pm when he was attacked. The shark attack left him with severe injuries to his legs.

Several surfers came to the aid of the boy and helped him to sh4ore for medical attention. Despite CPR efforts to revive him, he died at the scene.

Police initially said the victim was 17, but later corrected his age to 15.

Jim Simmons, mayor of Clarence Valley shire, said visitors had flocked to the region for the school holidays and there would likely have been many people in the water.

Whats happened there this afternoon would shake everybody, Simmons said. Its terribly shocking. All of our sympathies, from people in the area, go out to the boy’s family.” The previous Saturday, a 20-year-old scuba diver who was spear fishing died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Australias Queensland state.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2020