Maroubra Beach: Two sharks spotted, beach closed
Two sharks were spotted off Maroubra earlier today, with one of them just 30 metres from the beach. The shark alarm was sounded around 12.30pm with the beach quickly closed by the council before later reopening.
Southern Courier
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Maroubra Beach was temporarily closed today after two sharks were spotted offshore.
A Randwick Council spokeswoman confirmed the shark alarm at the beach went off about 12.30pm following a sighting.
A Westpac Helicopter was called to the beach and two sharks were sighted close to surfers – one about 30m off shore and one around 100m off shore.
The sharks were believed to be about 1.5m and 2m in length.
Maroubra Beach resident Emma Neems was walking with a friend on the promenade at the beach when the shark alarm began blaring.
She said in the 10 years she had lived in the area she had only heard it go off about five times.
“They already had two jet skis and a helicopter out searching (before the alarm sounded),” she said.
“They said over the microphone for all surfers and swimmers to get out of the water.”
She said it had been raining prior to the alarm going off which was fortunate, as it was pretty quiet at the beach.
At 1.20pm, the council confirmed the beach had been reopened.
The helicopter and a jetski were used to move the sharks away.
“Two small sharks located and moved on … area checked,” a statement from Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters said on Twitter.
It is not yet known what species the sighted sharks are. No surfers were hurt despite the close call.
State Government shark tracking bot SharkSmart also tweeted a “large shark of unknown species” had been sighted at Maroubra Beach at 12.04pm but it is not known if this recorded sighting was the same two sharks.