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teenage girl killed in shark attack at tourist hot spot in australia

a 17-year-old girl has died after suffering a serious s...

by denette wilford
published feb 04, 2025
read time 1 minute read
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read time 1 minute read
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a 17-year-old girl has died after suffering a serious shark bite while swimming at a popular beach along australia’s east coast.
emergency responders were called to woorim beach at bribie island, about 90 kilometres north of brisbane, on monday afternoon after receiving reports of a shark bite.
paramedics tried to treat the teen, who had sustained critical injuries to her upper body, but they were unable to save her.
the girl, identified as charlize zmuda, “sustained life-threatening injuries and succumbed to those injuries” about 15 minutes later, a queensland police spokesperson said in a statement.
zmuda started as a “nipper” (a young surf lifesaver) on bribie island when she was eight, was vice captain of her patrol, and competed with the irb (inflatable rescue boat) team in the lifesaving world championships, her family said, according to the australian broadcasting corporation.
charlize’s father, steve zmuda, said at a vigil that their family did not want beachgoers to avoid area where the attack happened.
“when i got the tragic news yesterday, i was extremely gutted, but something that my wife and i want to say is we don’t want people to stop coming to the beach and enjoying our beach,” he said.
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“it’s a big part of our lives.”

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in an earlier statement, the teen’s mother, renee zmuda, said they wanted the community to focus on the “incredible life she lived and not the awful way she died,” according to sky news.
“charlize was loved by many and was such a shining light who truly touched the lives of everyone she met,” her mom detailed.
“she loved the beach, and it truly was her happiest place on earth.”
it was unclear what kind of shark attacked the zmuda.
the beach has been closed until further notice.
denette wilford
denette wilford

denette wilford is a multimedia journalist at the toronto sun. she began her career at tv guide canada before going freelance for more than a decade, writing for huffington post, food network, etalk, hgtv, 24 hours toronto, and raptors, leafs and toronto fc magazines until landing at the sun, where aside from writing anything and everything, she also brings you your midday sun newsletter every weekday.

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