Overview
- Leah Stewart, who was bitten while swimming at Coogee Beach, was rescued on Saturday, June 13 and airlifted to St Vincent’s Hospital after an off‑duty lifeguard pulled her to shore and bystanders applied tourniquets and CPR.
- Doctors have performed multiple surgeries over several days, including amputation of an arm, and briefly reduced sedation so Stewart could speak to family in intensive care before further operations are planned.
- A family fundraiser has collected roughly $480,000–$488,000 to help pay for Stewart’s rehabilitation, prosthetics and medical costs as she faces a lengthy recovery.
- The attack has led authorities to deploy drumlines, obtain temporary aviation exemptions for shark‑spotting drones at Coogee and allocate extra mitigation money while the premier ruled out culling protected great white sharks.
- The incident follows a wider rise in shark activity in NSW earlier this year, and officials say new tools such as drones, tagging and listening stations can reduce but cannot remove the risk to swimmers.