A 35-year old woman remains in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital after she was attacked by a shark on Sunday while she was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach.
The local woman sustained serious wounds to her arm and leg, shortly after 11am. A nearby paddleboarder rescued the injured woman, who was swimming roughly 20 to 30 metres from shore, bringing her ashore with the support of bystanders. Ambulance paramedics arrived shortly after and police cleared Coogee Oval to allow a CareFlight rescue helicopter to land.
According to a statement by Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW) the woman was taken to hospital “semi-conscious and breathing.”
Beaches from Bondi to Maroubra were closed for at least 24 hours. This morning Randwick City Council announced that all beaches in the area, including Maroubra, Coogee and Clovelley have reopened, with lifeguards patrolling on JetSki and SLSNSW operating a shark-spotting drone at Coogee Beach.
The rescuer
Charlie Verco, a North Bondi athlete and trained surf life saver, was at Coogee Beach on Saturday morning, training for an upcoming paddleboard competition when he heard a swimmer shouting “shark”.
Speaking to Guardian Australia, Verco said he believed the shark was about 3.5 metres.
“I’ve only ever seen one shark bigger than that, and that was a tiger shark in Hawaii,” he said. “I could see [the victim]was being dragged around by something … there was a lot of blood in the water, it was quite shocking.”
Verco said he was able to get the woman to hold onto his board, but that she lost consciousness shortly after.
“I had to try and keep hold of her with one hand and keep paddling towards shore with the other.”
SLSNSW Chief executive Steve Pearce said, “We are sending our best wishes to the woman involved and her family at this time, after another terrible shark incident on our coastline.”
SLNSW said drones had been deployed at 14 locations across the state on Saturday, but not at Coogee. Since the incident, additional drone surveillance has been planned for dispatch in Bondi and Bronte beaches.
Reactions from witnesses
Ben Heenan, president of Coogee Surf Life Saving Club, was swimming at the beach on Saturday morning when he “heard a yell and started to see some red in the water and some splashing.”
“You just kind of instinctively knew what had happened,” he told Nine News.
“Obviously, the shark was still out there, but I was on a board. The lady was still in the water. We just wanted to get her out as quickly as possible.”
An off-duty emergency physician was also present at the beach, grabbing a shark bite kit and rushing down to the water.
“We just focused on stopping the bleeding and giving her oxygen,” Dr Ian Ferguson said.
Authorities react
NSW Department of Primary Industries spokesperson Marcel Green said the victim was “doing everything right” and could have done little to avoid the attack.
“It wasn’t murky water, it was crystal clear, she was swimming between the flags,” he said. “So it was just one of those random events, We can never be protected 100 per cent at every beach, every day, all the time’.”
Green, who is also Head of the NSW government’s shark management program, said two drumlines were in place “within probably half an hour of the incident, our contractor had another two smart drumlines out there”.
“Bull sharks are more of your riverine-type animal, whereas white sharks in particular are real surf animals.”
On social media, local MP for Coogee Marjorie O’Neill announced a community gathering tonight at 6:30pm at the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club for anyone impacted, affected by, or had witnessed the attack on Saturday.
“It’s scary right? All the warning signs we get told about sharks, this was everything against it,” she told Nine News.
Reevaluating shark management and drones
The incident on Saturday has renewed calls for stricter shark mitigation measures across NSW.
On Sunday, a ban which prevented the use of drones was temporarily lifted by Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), with drones seen flying over Coogee Beach to help with shark sightings.
CASA regulations prevent the devices being used near “airports with control towers” including “runway approach and departure paths”.
NSW government minister Tara Moriarty said that while “none of this is perfect”, the ban was a “common sense approach” to keeping planes safe. She hopes the government can work with CASA to maintain the lifting of the ban.
“They haven’t been able to use them over Coogee because of the airport,” she said on Sunday. “The temporary exemption has been granted and we’ll work with them and CASA to see that it can be made permanent.”
“They haven’t been able to fly the drones over Coogee Beach but of course sharks don’t move into one beach at a time or at a day so they can be tracked from other beaches. We’ve had drones up at Maroubra and other beaches that are in this region to be able to see shark movement.”
“We’re never going to have a perfect situation for managing sharks in the wild in New South Wales.”
Shark culling
When asked about the possibility of shark culls, the minister said: “Nothing is off the table.”
“We swim in the ocean with living, breathing animals and we have to share the ocean every day. Our mitigation program includes education to talk to people about the risks and when things are most high risk for getting in the ocean.”
“We’ve put more money into research to track the movements of sharks, particularly bull sharks over in Sydney Harbour and around other beaches.”
Nationals MP David Littleproud said of shark culling, “Yeah, I think we have to,” while NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane also supported more rigorous action.
“There are too many shark attacks,” she said. “We need to put humans ahead of sharks.”
Recent shark attacks
The incident over the weekend marks the fourth serious shark attack in Sydney since September 2025.
In January, NSW recorded four shark attacks in 48 hours. Manly local Andre de Ruyter lost a leg after being mauled at his local beach. Days later, 12-year-old Nico Antic was attacked by a shark while swimming in Vaucluse, later dying in hospital from his injuries.
Elsewhere across the country,38‑year‑old Perth resident Steven Mattaboni was killed off Rottnest Island in May. Weeks later, 39‑year‑old spearfisher Michael Jensz lost his life after he was attacked by a shark off the Far North Queensland coast. Most recently, a 35‑year‑old diver was bitten by a suspected 4.5‑metre shark while spearfishing off Michaelmas Island near Albany.