A surfer at a preferred Sydney seashore was mauled to loss of life by a suspected “massive shark” on Saturday, Australian police mentioned, in a uncommon deadly assault.
The 57-year-old man was browsing with associates within the Pacific waters off northern Sydney’s adjoining Lengthy Reef and Dee Why seashores when the assault occurred, authorities mentioned.
The person – an skilled surfer with a spouse and a younger daughter – misplaced “a variety of limbs”, New South Wales police superintendent John Ducan advised reporters.
“I do perceive that each him and his board disappeared underwater,” he mentioned. “The physique was discovered floating within the surf.”
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A few surfers noticed him within the water and bought him to shore, Duncan mentioned.
“Sadly, by that point, we perceive he misplaced in all probability lots of blood and makes an attempt to resuscitate him had been unsuccessful,” he mentioned.
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Individuals close by noticed the ocean predator, in accordance with police, who earlier mentioned they believed a “massive shark” attacked the person.
Authorities consultants will study the stays of the surfboard and the person’s physique to assist them decide the species of shark concerned, police mentioned.
There are about 100 shark species in Western Australia, in accordance with SharkSmart, an internet site run by Australian officers that warns about shark exercise and provides tips about learn how to keep secure. Many of the species are able to injuring people, however an “overwhelming majority of them usually are not aggressive beneath most circumstances.” Most severe shark bites in ocean-loving Australia are from nice whites, bull sharks, and tiger sharks.
After the incident, close by seashores had been closed for at the least 24 hours. Drones and surf lifesavers on water skis had been patrolling the seashores for shark exercise.
Deadly shark assaults are uncommon. In 2024, there have been solely seven deadly assaults, together with 4 unprovoked assaults, world wide, in accordance with analysis by the Worldwide Shark Assault File, a database run by the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past and the College of Florida.
General, shark assaults decreased dramatically in 2024 and had been far beneath the annual common.
This was the primary deadly shark assault in Sydney since 2022, when a 35-year-old British diving teacher was killed off Little Bay. The earlier deadly assault within the metropolis was in 1963. Australia’s final lethal shark assault was in March, when a surfer was taken off the distant Wharton Seashore of Western Australia.
One other surfer was presumed useless after a shark assault in South Australia in early January. A witness who noticed the assault rode into the ocean and retrieved the person’s surfboard, however officers mentioned there was “no signal” of the surfer afterwards.
There have been greater than 1,280 shark incidents round Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in loss of life, in accordance to a database of the predators’ encounters with people.
Kerry Breen
contributed to this report.
