Teenage girl killed in suspected shark attack in Perth’s Swan River

A teenage girl has been killed in a suspected shark attack in Western Australia after she jumped from her jetski into a river, police said.

The 16-year-old was pulled from the Swan River in Perth with critical injuries. Emergency personnel provided medical assistance at the scene but she died, said Insp Paul Robinson, of Western Australia police.

He said the victim was with her friends on jetskis. "There was possibly a pod of dolphins seen nearby and the young female jumped in the water to swim nearby the dolphins.

"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 counselling services to anyone who did witness it or is affected by the incident."

He said the fisheries department had advised him it was unusual for a shark to be so far down the river, which flows through Perth into the Indian Ocean.

"I've spoken to fisheries and water police and unfortunately we have no idea what type of shark it is," Robinson said.

It is believed to be the first fatal shark attack in the Swan River since a 13-year-old boy was killed in January 1923.