The 16-year-old girl who died after being mauled by a shark while swimming in the Swan River in North Fremantle has been identified as Stella Berry.
Stella was a year 11 student at Shenton College in Perth, The West Australian confirmed on Sunday.
The school sent an email to parents on Sunday morning, offering its condolences to Stella’s family.
“It is with great sadness, sincere empathy and the deepest regret that I write to inform you that Stella Berry (Year 11) … tragically lost her life on Saturday 4th February in an incident at the river in North Fremantle,” Principal Michael Morgan wrote, The ABC reported.
“I have personally offered, on behalf of the college, our condolences and support to Stella’s family during this very sad time.”
The girl was pulled from the river near the Fremantle traffic bridge, south of Perth, just after 3.30pm (6.30pm AEDT) on Saturday with significant injuries to her leg, according to reports.
Emergency services rushed to the riverbank but paramedics were unable to save her life.
WA Police confirmed just before 6pm (9pm AEDT) the girl had died at the scene.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said it was “currently assisting WA Police with a possible serious shark bite incident in the Swan River at North Fremantle”.
“A female received injuries after being bitten by an unknown species of shark at approximately 3.35pm on February 4 2023,” DPIRD said in a statement.
“DPIRD is working with WA Police and local authorities to coordinate responses. A DPIRD Fisheries vessel is on the water monitoring the area, and DPIRD officers are conducting land-based patrols.”
The public has been urged to “take additional caution in the Swan River in the North Fremantle area”.
Police said the girl had been riding jet skis with friends.
“It’s an extremely traumatic event for everyone involved and obviously, anyone that knew the young girl,” Fremantle District Acting Inspector Paul Robinson told reporters.
“What we’re being advised is she was with friends on the river, they were on jet skis. It was possibly a pod of dolphins seen nearby and the young female jumped in the water to swim nearby the dolphins.”
He the investigation was still ongoing but “all indications by witness accounts is that it appears to be a shark-related incident”.
Acting Inspector Robinson said the girl’s family were not present at the time and were “absolutely devastated by the news”.
“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.
A witness earlier told The West Australian the teen had been rope swinging with her friends off the traffic bridge.
“The girl jumped off the rope swing and then a bull shark pulled her under and then her boyfriend tried to like help her get out,” a boy told the newspaper.
“And she passed away on the beach.”
Another local resident told the ABC she heard children screaming and went out to see what was happening.
She said the girl’s injury was “like nothing I’ve seen before”.
Several witnesses said a man jumped into the water to try to help the girl, describing him as a “hero”.
It’s the first shark attack in the Swan River since Perth man Cameron Wrathall was bitten on his leg in January 2021.
At the time, Mr Wrathall was the first person to be attacked since 1968.
WA Fisheries Minister Don Punch expressed his condolences to the girl’s family.
“I am incredibly saddened by what has happened and I cannot begin to imagine what the victim’s family and friends are going through,” he said in a statement, per The West Australian.
“We offer them our support but understand they will need time and space as they deal with this tragedy.”
