Man in critical condition with ‘probably life-changing injuries’ after third Sydney shark attack in two days | Sydney

A man believed to be in his 20s is in a critical condition after being bitten by a shark in the third attack at Sydney beaches in two days.

He was taken to Royal North Shore hospital on Monday evening after New South Wales ambulance officers treated the man at Manly beach in Sydney’s north following the attack.

Supt John Duncan, the head of northern beaches police area command, said the man had come up to Manly for a surf and was about 40 metres off the beach when the attack took place, around 6.15pm.

“Witnesses heard him report a shark, and then he suffered a shark bite to his leg,” Duncan said on Tuesday morning, describing the injuries as “probably life-changing”.

“The surf lifesavers and emergency personnel who happened to be in the area responded quickly.”

The man remained in hospital in a critical condition after undergoing surgery on Monday night.

Christie Marks with NSW ambulance said the man was in cardiac arrest when emergency crews arrived and required CPR, saying the patient had lost a “lot of blood”. A member of highway patrol met an ambulance en route to the hospital to give the ambulance crew extra blood that was needed on the way.

The man was given 13 units of blood en route to the hospital.

“This is something that doesn’t happen a lot and that is going to be something that is going to give him the best chance of surviving,” Marks said. She noted a NSW ambulance doctor happened to be swimming at the beach during the attack and was part of the initial effort to treat the man.

“Everything that the people have done together and the agencies that have worked together is the best chance of survival for this patient.”

Beaches in the area remain closed on Tuesday morning.

“All beaches on the northern beaches are closed until further notice, and this will be reviewed on an ongoing basis,” police had said on Monday.

It comes after an 11-year-old surfer had his board bitten by a shark at Dee Why just a few kilometres away, and one day after a 12-year-old boy was attacked while swimming in Sydney Harbour in the eastern suburbs.

The 11-year-old was surfing at Dee Why beach on Monday morning when a shark bit his board several times, taking a chunk out of the mid-section.

The surfer was unharmed and helped by others out of the water.

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Northern Beaches council lifeguards immediately sounded the alarm, erected shark warning signs and dispatched a jetski to patrol the water. Surf Life Saving NSW launched a drone to assist with the investigation but there were no further sightings before midday.

The 15cm bite mark on the young surfer’s board suggests he was most likely attacked by a bull shark, according to shark biologists from the primary industries department.

The shark net had been set as normal on Dee Why beach, which was closed at the time of attack because of large swells and dangerous surf.

Dee Why is also a short distance from where avid surfer Mercury Psillakis, 57, was fatally mauled by a shark in September.

Police on Monday urged people not to swim in murky, low-visibility water after bucketing rain drenched Sydney and its surrounds at the weekend.

On Sunday afternoon, three teenagers leapt into action to save the life of a friend who was critically injured in a shark attack in eastern Sydney’s Vaucluse. The 13-year-old boy remained in hospital in a critical condition after surgery with injuries to both legs.

Extra fresh water in the harbour after recent heavy rain, combined with the splashing effect from people jumping off a rock face, created a “perfect storm” for Sunday’s shark attack, Supt Joseph McNulty said.

“I would recommend not swimming in the harbour or our other river systems across NSW at this time,” he told reporters before the Dee Why incident was reported.

Heavy swell had also prevented the operation of smart drumlines, which notify authorities of shark activity along most of the NSW coast since Sunday.

In the Vaucluse attack, at least one of the victim’s friends jumped into the water and pulled him out after the attack, while the others called for emergency services, McNulty said.

“The actions of his mates who have gone into the water to pull him out have been nothing but brave,” he said.

“Those actions of those young men are brave under the circumstances and very confronting injuries for those boys to see, but I suppose that’s mateship.”

The primary industries department is working to identify the species of shark involved but initial reports suggest it was a bull shark.

Multiple swimmers have been attacked by sharks in the harbour in recent years, including a young woman who was bitten on the leg at Elizabeth Bay in early 2024.

Psillakis’s death, at Long Reef beach on Sydney’s northern beaches, caused the state government to pull a trial to remove a handful of shark meshing nets off popular beaches.