Teenage girl, 16, hit to death by shark being identified, Swan River, WA

A 16-year-old girl who was mauled by a shark in front of her friends has been identified as Stella Berry.

The teenager, who was studying at Shelton College, was jet skiing with her friends when she spotted a pod of dolphins in the Swan River in North Fremantle, Western Australia, at 3:30pm on Saturday.

She dove into the water before the shark latched onto her leg.

Emergency services rushed to the scene to try to save her life, but her injuries were too severe.

A young girl was mauled to death by a shark on the Swan River in North Fremantle on Saturday in what eyewitness Joshua Banks described as a “completely accidental attack”.

It is believed that the girl was swimming with dolphins when she was attacked by the shark

Joshua Banks, 16, from Perth, was swinging ropes with six friends nearby before the gruesome attack unfolded.

“Me and my mates Jacob and Harry saw them – we actually saw them go through the bridge as we were swinging ropes,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“They came by and we saw them getting on and off the jet skis near the beach and quickly swimming to shore.”

The teenager described what he saw as a “completely random attack” and said he and his friends were “shattered” by the event.

“We were completely unaware of this attack and had been swimming and jumping for about an hour to 45 minutes,” he said.

He added that his friends “were aware it could have been us.”

Witnesses told police that a man bravely jumped into the water to pull the young girl out, describing him as a “hero,” but paramedics were unable to save her.

Mr Banks was swinging ropes with a group of pals nearby and saw the young girl and her friends on jet skis before jumping in the water

Witnesses told police that a man bravely jumped into the water to pull the tragic teenager out. However, rescue workers could not save her

A local, who saw the 16-year-old die after being mauled by a suspected bull shark, said she heard people screaming before the man jumped in.

The girl’s family and friends were seen near the river in a state of shock after she was pulled out.

Rescue services, including police boats, rushed to the scene near the Fremantle Traffic Bridge and she was pulled from the water with serious leg injuries.

Amid a spate of reports, WA Police initially thought she may have been injured by a boat propeller.

A local who saw the 16-year-old mauled by a suspected bull shark said she heard people scream before the man jumped in

WA Police said they received a triple zero call around 3:30 p.m. and emergency services rushed to the scene

Acting Fremantle Borough Inspector Paul Robinson described the incident as “traumatic”.

“It is an extremely traumatic event for everyone involved and everyone who knew the young girl, so I will not go into the extent of the injuries.

“It’s unusual for a shark to be that far downstream… an alert was issued at that point, a shark alert, just to let people know that this incident took place.

“What we were told at friends on the river were on jet skis, a pod of dolphins may have been seen nearby and the young woman jumped into the water to swim near the dolphins.”

Police did not go into details about their injuries or confirm what species of shark was involved in the attack.

It’s the first deadly shark attack in the Swan River in a century.

16-year-old girl reportedly attacked by bull shark (stock image)

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk