Sydney shark attack: police warn against harbour swimming, say water visibility after rain a possible factor in incident

A 12-year-old boy is in for the “fight of his life” after being attacked by a large shark while swimming in Sydney-harbour" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8957" data-entity-type="location">Sydney Harbour on Sunday afternoon.NSW Police said the boy was jumping off a popular rock ledge near Nielsen Park in Sydney’s east around 4.20pm on Sunday with friends when the attack from an animal, possibly a bull shark, took place.The boy’s friends, all similar ages, quickly rushed to assist him, with at least one jumping into the water to pull him to safety.Supt Joe Mcnulty, the commander of NSW Police marine area command, praised the boy’s friends for their quick action.“The actions of his mates who’ve gone into the water and pulled him out have been nothing but brave,” Mcnulty said, adding praise to emergency responders.“All I can say is the actions between police … the team who were doing CPR at the time, it was extraordinary. It was a textbook recovery to give this boy a fighting chance for survival. He’s in for the fight of his life now and the actions of emergency services yesterday gave him that chance.”A nearby police speed boat responded within minutes, where an officer applied a double tourniquet to both of the boy’s legs to stop the bleeding. Officers were administering CPR as the boy was taken by boat to nearby Rose Bay, where ambulance crews were waiting to rush him to the hospital.He remains in critical condition with critical injuries to both legs.The Department of Primary Industries has not yet confirmed what species of shark is thought to be involved in the attack, but police officials said it was a “large” animal.Mcnulty noted Sydney-harbour" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8957" data-entity-type="location">Sydney Harbour is brackish, meaning it contains a mixture of salt and freshwater, which can worsen visibility.After a weekend of heavy rain, he said officials believe the water quality, as well as the splashing from people jumping into the water off the rocks “may have made that perfect storm environment for the shark attack”.“At the moment we’ve experienced a lot of fresh water in the harbour, it’s brackish water so you can’t see the bottom,” he said. “So I would recommend not swimming there right now.”“It’s not a good time to swim.”SLS advise beaches in the vicinity of Nielsens Park-Shark Bay Beach, Sydney-harbour" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8957" data-entity-type="location">Sydney Harbour, remain closed after yesterday’s shark incident. Please be #SharkSmart.— SharkSmart (@NSWSharkSmart) January 18, 2026NSW SharkSmart confirmed this morning that beaches in the vicinity of Nielsen Park, including Shark Bay Beach, remain closed after the incident.Inspector Giles Buchanan with NSW Ambulance said the tourniquet applied by officers shortly after the attack was “definitely a life-saving intervention”. He described the initial response to the attack as a “resuscitation situation”, noting the boy was unconscious when emergency officials first arrived.The boy had to be intubated to assist with breathing when he reached ambulance crews.“I think it was touch-and-go the entire time,” Buchanan added. “And it still is.”