There are shark attack rumours (as in, a shark chased them and they panicked and beached) but it's probably just rumours. The Australian public is really hyped up about sharks at the moment, as there have been three shark attacks in three weeks at our de-facto capital, Sydney's most popular swim/surf beaches. A teenage surfer got attacked on the same day the beaching occurred, he's still in hospital, and two weeks ago there were two attacks in two days.
Apparently they saved about 50 of them, but about 100 have died. It's really awful.