MELBOURNE: Restrictions on drones flying over Australia’s Coogee Beach will be reviewed by a regulator so rescuers in New South Wales state can monitor for sharks, after an attack on Saturday left a woman critically injured in the hospital.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in eastern Sydney on Saturday morning following reports that a 35-year-old woman had been bitten by a large shark about 30 metres from the shore.
The woman was in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital on Sunday, a spokesperson told Reuters, after she sustained serious injuries to her lower left leg and arms.
Coogee Beach and others in the city’s Randwick Council area were closed for 24 hours following the attack. Drones flew overhead under emergency provisions to scan for sharks.
“It’s been a really tough summer of shark activity and shark attacks in Sydney and it’s something that the NSW government is taking really, really seriously,” said Tara Moriarty, New South Wales state’s minister for agriculture.
Moriarty said the government would consider fresh measures to keep swimmers safe from shark attacks, including using drones and other technology.
