Teen Girl Dead After Jumping in River, Attracting Attention of Unknown Creature

A 16-year-old girl was killed in what officials believe to be a rare shark attack in the city of Perth, 🇦🇺Australia, on Saturday.

The girl, identified as Stella Berry, had been on a jet ski when she jumped into the Swan River, Police Acting Inspector Paul Robinson said, according to the Associated Press.

“There was possibly a pod of dolphins seen nearby and the young female jumped in the water to swim nearby the dolphins,” he said. She was critically injured in the attack and died at the scene.

“The family weren’t there when this took place, however, her friends were and as you can imagine this is an extremely traumatic incident for anyone to witness so obviously we’re offering counseling services to anyone who did witness it or is affected by the incident,” he said.

“The Swan River estuary is good bull shark habitat and this means people can come into close contact with them,” said Andrew Chin, a senior research fellow at James Cook University, according to CNN.

“Unfortunately some encounters end badly and in this case with tragic results,” Chin said.

“Bull sharks can be very bold but it is also important to remember that these incidents are very, very rare events — (though) heartbreaking and traumatizing for everyone involved,” he said.