‘There was a lot of blood in the water’: paddleboarder rescues woman after ‘shocking’ Coogee shark attack | Sydney
Elite paddleboarder Charlie Verco has only seen one shark larger than the one he saw at Sydney’s Coogee beach on Saturday.
The North Bondi athlete was training for July’s world championships in Hawaii on Saturday morning when he heard a swimmer shout “shark”.
Several swimmers attempted to climb aboard his 18-foot (5.5 meters) paddleboard as he made his way toward the water area, where about three people appeared near a large gray shadow.
“I’m familiar with shark behavior and it looked like it was just curious, it didn’t appear to be aggressive behaviour,” he told Guardian Australia.
Verco, a trained surf lifeguard, tried to signal lifeguards on shore, hoping they would sound the shark alarm and rescue swimmers from the water.
“But then another woman started screaming and I could see she was being dragged by something… there was so much blood in the water, it was pretty shocking,” she said.
“The shark came to the surface, I saw its dorsal fin, it was big, about three and a half metres, I’ve only seen one shark bigger than that and that was a tiger shark in Hawaii.”
The woman disappeared, then reappeared, Verco said. The shark released its grip and was able to get a hold of part of the board.
“But then I think he lost consciousness, he couldn’t stand it anymore,” he said. “I had to keep paddling towards the shore with one hand while trying to hold it with my other hand.”
Verco said it took too long for the shark alarm to sound and for him and the woman to reach shallow waters. He was brought ashore by some of the people around him.
In reality, he says, it “probably only took about three, maybe five minutes” to paddle it back to shore.
A New South Wales Ambulance spokesman said the woman suffered injuries to her arms and legs and was taken by road to St Vincent’s hospital.
After the attack, which occurred just after 11 in the morning, many teams intervened in the woman on the beach. The woman in her 30s was in critical condition on Saturday evening.
An SLSNSW spokesman said all beaches from Bondi to Maroubra were closed on Saturday and would remain closed for at least 24 hours.
Chief executive Steve Pearce said it was the fourth serious shark incident in Sydney since September 2025.
“Following another horrific shark incident on our coastline, we send our best wishes to the woman involved and her family,” he said.
