‘A lot of blood in the water’: Paddleboarder rescues woman after ‘shocking’ Coogee shark attack

Elite paddleboarder Charlie Verco described a "shocking" scene at Sydney's Coogee Beach on Saturday when he rescued a woman from a shark attack. Verco, who was training for the world championships, heard a swimmer yell "shark" and saw several people attempting to climb onto his board as a large grey shadow moved in the water.

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I’m familiar with shark behaviour and it looked like it was just being inquisitive, it didn’t look like aggressive behaviour.

He observed the shark, estimated to be about 3.5 meters long, initially appearing inquisitive. However, the situation escalated when another woman began screaming, being pulled by the shark. Verco witnessed "a lot of blood in the water" before the shark surfaced. He managed to help the woman, who had lost consciousness, onto his board and paddled towards shore.

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But then another woman started screaming, and I could see she was being dragged around by something … there was a lot of blood in the water, it was quite shocking.

New South Wales Ambulance reported the woman suffered critical arm and leg injuries and was transported to St. Vincent's Hospital. Bystanders assisted in bringing her ashore. This incident marks the fourth serious shark encounter in Sydney since September 2025, prompting the closure of all beaches from Bondi to Maroubra for at least 24 hours. The woman, in her 30s, was in critical condition Saturday evening.

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The shark surfaced, I saw its dorsal fin, it was big, about three and a half metres, I’ve only ever seen one shark bigger than that and that was a tiger shark in Hawaii.