A young Swiss woman has died after a shark attack off a remote beach in New South Wales, Australia, despite her boyfriend’s desperate efforts to save her.
On Thursday, Nov. 27, Lukas Schindler, 26, and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Livia Muhlheim, were swimming near Kylies Beach, a secluded stretch of coastline in NSW. At around 6:30 a.m., emergency services were called after reports that the couple had been attacked by a roughly 9-foot bull shark, according to NSW Police.
Moments before the attack, Muhlheim had been using a GoPro to film a pod of dolphins in the water. When the shark struck, Schindler is reported to have tried to fight it off and was badly bitten on the leg in the process.
Following the attack, police say Schindler managed to carry Muhlheim and swim her back to shore, where bystanders immediately called for help.
Authorities have praised those witnesses for their quick response, noting that they fashioned a makeshift tourniquet around Schindler’s injured leg to slow the bleeding.
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“The courage from some bystanders is amazing in this situation,” NSW Ambulance superintendent Josh Smyth said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “Very heroic, and [it] obviously did give us time to get to that male patient.”
Schindler sustained serious leg injuries and was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, where he remains in serious but stable condition. Muhlheim, however, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Local officials are reviewing footage from the couple’s GoPro, though it is not yet clear whether the attack itself was captured on video.
NSW Police say the beach remains closed as authorities continue their investigation.
“This area is so remote, there’s no life-guarding services up there at all,” Steven Pearce, chief executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, told the outlet. “These incidents are horrific for everyone and, unfortunately, we’ve had a few this year already.”
