Woman dies in suspected New Zealand shark attack
Flowers are placed on a beach following a shark attack at Bowentown near Waihi in New Zealand, Friday, Jan 8, 2021. A woman has died Thursday, Jan. 7, in what appears to be New Zealand's first fatal shark attack in eight years, police say. (George Novak/Bay of Plenty Times via AP)
WELLINGTON: A woman has died in what appears to be New Zealand’s first fatal shark attack in eight years, police said on Friday (Jan 8).
Emergency services responded late Thursday afternoon to reports of a woman “injured in the water” at Waihi Beach, a popular tourist spot 153km southeast of Auckland, a police statement said.
“Indications are that she had been injured by a shark,” Police Inspector Dean Anderson said.
She was dragged from the water with leg wounds and attempts to resuscitate her on the beach failed, media reported.
A vacationing doctor joined paramedics, lifeguards and emergency services personnel in attempting to save the woman, Anderson said.
The woman, whose identity has not been made public, was scheduled to undergo an autopsy on Friday, Anderson said.
The last fatal shark attack in New Zealand was in February 2013 when a 46-year-old swimmer was mauled at Muriwai Beach, 41km west of Auckland.
