{"id":53030,"date":"2026-01-25T02:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=53030"},"modified":"2026-01-25T05:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T11:42:29","slug":"boy-12-dies-after-shark-attack-while-swimming-at-popular-cliff-jumping-spot-we-are-heartbroken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=53030","title":{"rendered":"Boy, 12, dies after shark attack while swimming at popular cliff-jumping spot: ‘We are heartbroken’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 12-year-old Australian boy<\/a> died after a brutal shark attack in Sydney Harbor, his family confirmed Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nico Antic had been fighting for his life<\/a> since Jan. 18, when he was attacked while swimming at a popular cliff-jumping spot known as Jump Rock near Shark Beach in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family announced Saturday that he had died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are heartbroken to share that our son, Nico, has passed away,” Nico\u2019s parents, Lorena and Juan, said in a statement. “Nico was a happy, friendly, and sporty young boy with the most kind and generous spirit. He was always full of life and that\u2019s how we\u2019ll remember him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 12-year-old Australian boy has died after a brutal shark attack in Sydney Harbour, his family confirmed Saturday.  (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also thanked first responders and medical staff at Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital in Randwick for their efforts and members of the community for their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A GoFundMe campaign launched by a family friend had raised more than $266,000 as of Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A swimmer takes a dip at Whale Beach, ignoring warning signs as beaches in Sydney’s north have been closed since Tuesday due to shark attacks and dangerous currents in Sydney, Australia.  (Steve Christo\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to police, the attack happened around 4:20 p.m. Jan. 18, after Antic jumped from a 20-foot ledge into the water. He sustained severe injuries to both legs, believed to have been caused by a large shark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His three friends immediately jumped into the water, pulled him to shore and called for help. Antic was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local media reported at the time that he had lost both legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A net runs into Sydney Harbor at a closed beach at Vaucluse in Sydney Jan. 19, a day after a boy was attacked by a shark. (Sitthixay Ditthavong\/AAP Image via AP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragedy is among a surge of shark incidents across Australia. Dozens of beaches were closed this week after four shark attacks in mere days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia averages roughly 20 shark attacks a year, with fewer than three proving fatal, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

foxnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 12-year-old Australian boy died after a brutal shark attack in Sydney Harbor, his family confirmed Saturday.  Nico Antic had been fighting for his life since Jan. 18, when he was attacked while swimming at a popular cliff-jumping spot known as Jump Rock near Shark Beach in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse.  His family announced Saturday that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":53031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[2484,9047],"class_list":["post-53030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-boy","tag-shark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53032,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53030\/revisions\/53032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}