Sydney woman attacked by shark wakes briefly from coma to say three words | Sharks

A woman who was attacked by a shark at Sydney’s Coogee beach has spoken her first words after waking up from a coma 10 days after her injuries.

“I love you,” Leah Stewart told her mother and partner after emerging from a coma on Tuesday. He was bitten by a great white shark on June 13.

Stewart had five days of surgery, including an arm amputation, with more to come, his brother Josh Stewart wrote on a fundraising page.

“After a week of life support and repeated surgeries, doctors were able to extubate Leah and reduce her sedation level, briefly bringing her out of a coma,” he wrote.

“His first thoughts were about his daughter… and he wanted to check if she was okay.

“This is much faster than anyone expected and to us this feels like a miracle and everything many of us have been hoping and praying for this past week.”

Stewart, a 34-year-old teacher and mother of a one-year-old daughter, remained in intensive care.

A fundraising page set up to fund his medical procedures and help his family has raised more than $488,000.

During his stay in hospital, tensions about sharks off the Sydney coast were mounting.

A drone video circulating on social media showed what appeared to be a shark near the shore at Bondi beach early on Wednesday morning. The operator said it was a great white and one was seen on Tuesday as well.

The beach was closed by lifeguards and the New South Wales Shark Smart app was released at 9am on Wednesday.

“This is not an uncommon occurrence at this time of year and users of the Shark Smart app will have noticed increased white shark detections at our tagged shark listening stations,” NSW’s department of primary industries (DPI) said in a statement.

“White sharks are present at sea surface temperatures ranging from 10-27°C; data from our tagged sharks shows that most juvenile white sharks move northward along the NSW coast in late autumn and early winter, with more juvenile white sharks traveling along the NSW coastline from September to November when the waters are cooler in northern NSW and southern Queensland.”

DPI also confirmed that a tiger shark was spotted at Bondi on Tuesday afternoon and tagged at Maroubra earlier that day. Bondi was also closed briefly on Sunday due to shark sightings.

‘We must be world leaders’

Stewart’s attack reignited calls for shark populations to be culled to protect swimmers, but NSW premier Chris Minns said great whites could not be targeted because the species was protected.

NSW will deploy “world-leading” shark drones to more of the state’s beaches, the premier said on Wednesday.

“We will use technology that is available but not widely available anywhere else in the world, in California or Florida. [nor South Africa] … where there are developed world economies, large tourism populations and sharks,” Minns said. “We will be the first.”

The Prime Minister said an announcement would be made “soon”, including on cost and how Surf Life Saving NSW would operate the system.

DPI said on Wednesday that a Surf Life Saving drone “flyed at Bondi from 7.30am to 4pm every day”, another covered Tamarama and Bronte and a third looked out for Coogee and Maroubra beaches.

“We will make a statement regarding additional measures shortly,” the ministry said.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority granted temporary exemptions to aerial surveillance of the Coogee coast following the attack on Stewart. The beach is approximately 8 km from Sydney airport.

Shark nets, which were temporarily removed during the winter whale migration season, were planned to be reinstalled in early September.

‘You become scarier to the predator’

Questions have been raised about whether the shark sightings were the same animal.

Professor emeritus Rob Harcourt, a marine biologist and shark expert, said it was “unlikely” it was the same shark because of the way sharks move through an area.

“They spend a lot of time in local areas, but the local area is pretty big. It would cover the whole of Sydney… There’s a lot of food around, so there’s probably quite a lot of sharks at this point,” Harcourt said.

While Harcourt understands that “people are nervous about swimming,” he said “if you’re on a patrolled beach, the risk of getting bitten isn’t that high.”

“I don’t swim alone. You’re less likely to spot an animal coming, whereas if you’re swimming in a group there are more eyes in the water. I would also say you’re more intimidating to the predator,” Harcourt said.

The 65-year-old man was among locals removed from the water after lifeguards closed Bondi beach on Wednesday morning.

“Just as we were about to get to the beach, the shark alarm went off. My friends and I went for a walk because they don’t let you in the water.”

Harcourt supported efforts to deploy larger shark drones along the state’s beaches, saying it was the most “cost-effective” way to protect people “without causing any damage to the environment.”