The first images have emerged of Stella Berry, the 16-year-old girl fatally mauled by a shark in front of her horrified friends.
The fun-loving teenager, who was a student at Shenton College in Perth, enjoyed making zany TikTok videos, dancing and miming texts with friends, often with an infectious grin.
She was relaxing with her friends on a rope swing in the Swan River in North Fremantle, Western Australia, on Saturday around 3:30pm when she saw a pod of dolphins and jumped into the water, but a shark grabbed her leg.
Stella Berry, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was fatally attacked by a shark on Saturday after jumping into Washington’s Swan River
Heroic bystanders, including some people on jet skis, called emergency services and tried to save their lives.
However, Stella suffered severe leg injuries and died at the scene.
Shenton College Principal Michal Morgan said Stella’s death caused “great sadness, sincere sympathy and the deepest regret”.
Stella, who was the daughter of two teachers, enjoyed making crazy TikTok videos with her friends and family
“I understand and respect that people react to grief and loss in different ways and that a loss like this can trigger a wide range of emotional responses that are not always predictable or obvious,” Morgan told The West.
“I have personally expressed our condolences and support on behalf of the quorum to Stella’s family at this very sad time.”
Both of Mrs. Berry’s parents are teachers.
A local who saw the 16-year-old mauled by a suspected bull shark said she heard people scream before the man jumped in
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.”
Joshua Banks was swinging ropes with a group of buddies 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 young girl out, calling him a “hero,” but paramedics were unable to save her.
A local girl said she heard people screaming before the man jumped in to try to save her life.
The girl’s family and friends were seen near the river in a state of shock after she was pulled out.
It is believed that the girl was swimming with dolphins when she was attacked by the shark
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”.
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.
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.