A man died after he was attacked by a shark in waters off Australia’s tropical northeast coast on Nov. 6, police said, the third attack in the popular tourist region in the last two months.
The 33-year-old Australian man was paddle boarding and then swimming off a chartered yacht in the Whitsunday Islands’ Cid Harbour when he was bitten by a shark at around 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, police said. The man suffered severe injuries in his legs and arm, and was resuscitated before being transferred to Mackay Base Hospital, Queensland Police Inspector Steve O'Connell said.
O'Connell said the shark species involved in the incident had not yet been confirmed.
The attack follows two others in the same area in September, when a 12-year-old girl and a 46-year-old man suffered severe injuries from shark attacks while swimming on two consecutive days.
Australia ranked behind only the United States in the number of unprovoked shark encounters with humans in 2017, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.
The Whitsunday Islands is a popular tourist site 900 km (560 miles) northwest of the state capital Brisbane.
