When Steve Zmuda heard sirens and learned there was a shark attack incident on the beach, he started calling his friends. What he never expected was that the swimmer in question was his own daughter, 17-year-old Charlize Zmuda.
Steve recalled the time he learned the news every parent dreads. “I said ‘Is it a fatality… do we know them’ … ‘Steve I have to tell you, It’s Charlize’ … I said ‘you’re joking’… I screamed, all the neighbours came running out.”
Steve desperately tried to reach his wife, Rene. However, he couldn’t gather the strength to tell her that their daughter was the one killed in the shark attack.
“[Steve] was speechless, and I had no idea what was happening… I yelled at him, ‘Just tell me!’—never once imagining what it could be,” Rene Zmuda told the Daily Telegraph.
“I knew it was serious because he couldn’t speak… but all I could think was, ‘Where do I need to be?’”
In that moment, Rene rushed to the ambulance, needing to see her daughter with her own eyes to believe it was real.
Rene said her daughter was “a shining light who truly touched the lives of everyone she met.”
Charlize’s heartbroken father, who runs the Nippers club at Woorim Beach on Queensland’s southeast coast, urged swimmers to stay between the red and yellow flags—a precaution his daughter didn’t take that day, a decision that ultimately cost her life.
“But something my wife and I want to say is we don’t want people to stop coming to the beach and enjoying our beach,” Steve told 9News, adding they would never put people at risk.
“Charlize was a member of our club since she was eight years old.
“She was a dedicated lifesaver who wanted to only do the best for our club and all the people in our community.”
Surf Life Saving Queensland, which Charlize was a member of, shared their tribute.
“A 17-year-old member of the Bribie Island Surf Life Saving Club was fatally attacked by a shark. She and her family have been a cherished part of the surf lifesaving community, and our hearts are broken.
Additionally, they wrote: “Surf lifesaving is built on family and community, and today we mourn this devastating loss. On behalf of all members, we wrap our hearts and minds around her family, friends, Club, and all those affected. No words can ease the pain, but we stand together, offering our deepest sympathies and support.”
Our thoughts and prayers go to the grieving family.
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