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Queensland shark attack victim identified as Hannah Papps, 12, who lives in Melbourne with Kiwi parents

September 21, 2018

The girl is Hannah Papps, who lives in Melbourne with her New Zealand parents.

The young girl attacked by a shark in Queensland yesterday afternoon has been identified as 12-year-old Hannah Papps, who lives in Melbourne with her New Zealand parents.

Hannah was rescued by helicopter from Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands yesterday after being bitten on the upper leg by a shark.

The girl, who was holidaying with her father and sister, was flown to the Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition where she underwent surgery.

Father David Papps, a Christchurch born engineer, flew alongside his daughter, now residing in a specialist children's hospital in Brisbane.

Emergency services say the young girl lost a lot of blood in the Whitsunday Islands attack.

Queensland Ambulance Service operations manager Tracey Eastwick said the girl had lost a significant amount of blood after she was mauled on the thigh.

"It is horrific ... for us as a community of paramedics it is quite confronting to have two similar incidents in the space of less than 24 hours," she told reporters in Mackay.

"In north Queensland, shark attacks are not that common."

The last attack in the area was eight years ago.

Papps is the second victim of a shark attack in less than 24 hours , with Australian Justine Barwick bitten while snorkeling in the same stretch of water.

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