A Swiss woman has been killed and her boyfriend – who tried to save her – critically injured after a shark attack in Australia.
Livia Mühlheim, 25, and Lukas Schindler, 26, were swimming in the sea off Kylies Beach at Crowdy Bay, in New South Wales, at dawn on Thursday, when they were mauled.
It’s believed a large bull shark went for Ms Mühlheim first, at which point Mr Schindler, a recently qualified diving instructor, tried to fight it off but was bitten twice on the leg.
Despite his injuries he managed to pull his girlfriend, who had lost an arm in the attack, 50 metres to the shore. Sadly, however, she could not be saved.
Mr Schindler, a newly qualified diving instructor, was taken to hospital where his condition was described as critical.
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Before paramedics arrived and with help from an operator, a bystander in her 40s created a makeshift tourniquet out of her swimming costume to help stem his bleeding.
Authorities later said this ultimately saved his life.
Ms Mühlheim, a former synchronised swimmer and passionate runner,was filming dolphins on a GoPro when she was mauled.
The pair had been trying to get work at a Discovering Caravan Park in Harrington, around 14 miles south of Kylies Beach, reports the Daily Mail.
Kylies Beach is unpatrolled and known as a shark hot spot.
Mr Schindler graduated from a Master of Arts degree at the University of Technology Sydney in 2025, after studying a Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.
Ms Mühlheim studied her Master’s in Accounting and Finance at the same university, and was hired by a financial consulting firm in 2024.
In August Mr Schindler completed the Sydney Marathon in an impressive 2 hours and 59 minutes in August and last week finished a diver’s instructor’s course at Bondi Dive Centre.
The attack has prompted renewed calls from the public to install more ‘Shark Bit Kits’ along Australia’s coastlines.
The kits are designed to help control bleeding and contain a tourniquet, two conforming bandages, two large dressings, an emergency thermal blanket, gloves, a whistle and step-by-step instructions on how to treat a shark bite.
Only 150 have been installed across NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
This was the fifth fatal shark attack in Australia this year.
In September a 57-year-old dad-of-one died after being mauled while surfing off Dee Why beach in Sydney.
Mercury Psillakis is believed to have lost both his legs in the attack.
In February, 17-year-old Charlize Zmuda was killed by a shark while swimming in the water off Woorim Beach on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane.
And in January Lance Appleby, 28, died in a shark attack as he surfed off Granites Beach, in South Australia.
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