• Teen drowns after dingo attack in Australia
• Investigations ongoing into circumstances

A 19-year-old Canadian girl, Piper James, died after being attacked by dingoes on a popular Australian beach, according to autopsy results.

Her body was found early on January 19, surrounded by about ten dingoes on K’Gari (formerly Fraser Island), off Queensland’s eastern coast.

The state coroner’s court said Friday: “Piper died from drowning following multiple injuries caused by, or resulting from, a dingo attack,” with investigations ongoing to clarify the circumstances.

Six of the ten dingoes around her body were later euthanized. About 200 dingoes live on K’Gari and are legally protected as a native species.

Preliminary investigations showed “extensive post-mortem bite marks,” and confirmed that bites before death “were not a direct cause of immediate death.”

Piper had been working at a backpacker hostel in the weeks prior and told friends she planned an early morning swim.

Her parents, Angela and Todd James, said she had dreamed of traveling since graduating high school and had saved for the trip, describing her as a “kind spirit.”

The last fatal dingo attack on the island occurred in 2001, when a 9-year-old boy died after falling near a campsite.

In 2023, a woman jogging on the island was attacked by dingoes, forcing her into the water; she was rescued by witnesses.