Authorities are hunting a shark that killed a 32-year-old American man at Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia.
Police say the man, who had arrived in the state earlier this year for work, was diving and spear fishing on Saturday afternoon when it is believed he was attacked by the three-metre shark.
WA Premier Colin Barnett described the man’s death as “tragic” and ordered that the shark responsible to be caught and killed.
“Within an hour of that situation occurring the Fisheries Minister [Norman Moore] and the State Government authorised that the shark be caught and destroyed, if possible, and the fisheries officers are now attempting to do that,” he said.
The man’s death off the island’s Little Armstrong Bay is the second shark fatality in WA within two weeks, after 64-year-old Bryn Martin was killed at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach on October 10.
Water Police Senior Sergeant Greg Trew said police received a call on Saturday afternoon that the shark victim had surfaced in “a flurry of bubbles”.
He said the American citizen had “fairly horrific injuries” and was believed to be dead when he was pulled from the water by his diving companions.
The attack happened about one kilometre off the north of Rottnest, a popular holiday island near Perth, when the man was diving alone from a 25-metre vessel.
A man surfing south of Newport is alive after surviving an alleged shark attack Thursday.
Bobby Gumm of Newport was surfing with three friends about 200 yards off the coast at South Beach State Park when witnesses say was suddenly thrown approximately 10-feet into the air.
Ronald and Carol Clifford of Waldport were with Gumm when the attack occurred.
“He said he just got done surfing. He said he went up to sit down. He felt a bump on his leg, and noticed it was a shark. And that’s when he called for help,” Ronald Clifford said.
Clifford, a local surfing instructor, says he saw a 2-foot fin come out of the water.
For the second time in 2 weeks, a person was bitten by a shark near Anna Maria Island.
Manatee deputies say Javier Perez was wade fishing near Bean Point with his family on Sunday afternoon. After packing up and dumping his bait, Perez was still standing in waist deep water when a shark came up behind him and bit his left thigh.
Perez and his family were able to flag down a passing boater and head toward the Rod and Reel pier.
He was transported to Blake hospital with a small wound and scratches on his leg.
A 21-year-old Longboat Key man was bitten on the thigh by a bull shark last weekend while spear fishing off Anna Maria Island.
A man has been mauled by a great white shark near Cape Town in South Africa.
The 42-year-old entered the sea at Fish Hoek Beach to go for a swim, although the area had been closed after a shark was spotted.
Rescuers found the man on the shore with his right leg bitten off. His left leg had been cut off below the knee.
Amateur footage showed the man being airlifted by helicopter from the scene and a large shark in the waters. He is now said to be in a critical condition.
“When the victim entered the water, the beach was still closed and the shark flag indicating the presence of a white shark was flying,” Cape Town authorities said in a statement.
The man, believed to be a British citizen living in South Africa, entered the water about an hour and a half after the animal had first been seen.
French police search for Mathieu Schiller's body after the shark attack (Picture: AFP/Getty)
Champion surfer Mathieu Schiller was killed in a frenzied shark attack that lasted less than 30 seconds after he was dragged from his surfboard on Bouncan Canot beach, on the French island of Réunion.
The 32-year-old was believed to have been attacked by a man-eating tiger shark that swam off afterwards.
Surfers searched for the Frenchman’s body afterwards but police said it was carried away in the waves.
‘There were around 20 people in shallow water and about five surfers out deeper when it happened,’ a witness told Réunion’s local news website.
‘We saw the shark’s nose emerge and then the man just vanished. It was very sudden, then the animal just swam off.
‘Some of those nearby tried to reach him but his body was dragged away by the current.’
Mr Schiller’s death is the second fatal shark attack on the island in the Indian Ocean this year. Three other people have been injured by sharks there since January, including one man whose leg was bitten off.
The attack also follows that of British honeymooner Ian Redmond, 32, who was savaged while swimming 9m (30ft) off the island of Praslin in the Seychelles last month.
‘Although attacks are rare, sharks in this area can strike without warning at any moment,’ said shark expert Remy Tezier.
Red flags would now be put up at beaches with a high risk of shark attacks and water sports would be banned, a Réunion official said.
Mr Schiller, the European team body boarding champion in 1995, opened a surf school on Réunion in 2008.
A surfer was bitten this morning as he paddled out on his board about a quarter mile south of the jetty at the 2800 block in New Smyrna Beach, said Capt. Tammy Marris.
While the attack left a 3-inch deep cut on the arm of Daniel Jorgensen, 25, of Winter Park, Jorgensen, who was in 6 feet of water, refused transport to the hospital, Marris said.
“He said he would drive himself to the hospital,” Marris said.
The attack, reported just after 11 a.m., is this year’s fifth shark bite, Marris said.
Local fishing guide and surfer Capt. Patrick Preston said he was out for a surf and was only 10 feet away from Jorgensen when he was bitten.
“I saw the swirl, the shark swirled real hard, probably about five feet from me when I was duck diving (through a wave),” Preston said. “I looked over and there was mullet jumping all over this guy and then the whole (expletive) shark came out of the water.
“It was a big shark. More than likely (a bull),” he said. “I’ve never seen a black tip or anything get that big.”
New Smyrna Beach surfer and Surfer magazine photographer Patrick “Tupat” Eichstaedt said an 8-foot bull shark has been seen cruising the same sandbar where Jorgensen was bitten for days now.
A French diplomat working for the European Union was rushed to Australia for medical treatment after being attacked by a shark in Papua New Guinea.
Thomas Viot, 30, was bitten on the leg by what he believed was a tiger shark as he kite-surfed near a reef off the capital, Port Moresby, 1,800 kms from Darwin.
Despite a wound that went down to the bone, causing a huge loss of blood, Viot managed to kite-surf back to a beach where local people and friends rushed to his aid.
‘I don’t know how I managed it after the attack, but somehow I succeeded in riding back to the shore with my kite surf,’ he said after being flown to the Queensland city of Brisbane.
Viot said he was ‘bleeding very badly’ after the shark, which was at least 6.5ft long, lunged at him as he stood on his kiteboard.
There have been 49 shark attacks, with 25 fatalities among them, in Papua New Guinea since 1925.
A man died after he was attacked by a shark at a popular South-West beach Sunday afternoon.
Police have confirmed the 21-year-old man was from the eastern states but had been based in Wilyabrup, three hours south of Perth, for several years.
Police are in the process of contacting his next-of-kin. The man’s girlfriend was believed to have just gone overseas.
The victim was bodyboarding with a friend at a surfing break known as The Boneyards near Bunker Bay when he was taken by a shark, believed to be a white pointer.
At least five other surfers from Bunbury were in the water, just metres from the victim when the attack happened, but nobody actually saw the attack according to Dunsborough Sergeant Craig Anderson.
Sergeant Anderson described those who pulled the victim from the water as courgeous. “You’ve got to take your hat off to the young fellow who was surfing with him and his mate for bringing [the victim] ashore, the nature of his injuries was significant, it’s not something that even volunteer rescuers or emergency services like to see,” he said.
Dunsborough man Kurt Morris was having lunch at the Bunker Bay Cafe with his family when he saw chaos erupt on the beach.
Mr Morris said he spoke to the surfers who were just metres from the attack.
“There were three blokes from Bunbury they were next to him when it happened,” he said.
“They were saying they were just two metres away from him.
“From the waist down, it was just all gone.”
Mr Morris said the group that pulled the man from water were visibly shaken.
He said surfers were sprinting out of the water to their cars, driving to nearby surfing breaks to let others know of the shark attack.
The attack was believed to have happened at a popular break known as The Boneyards, about 50 metres from the shore.
“It was not that far off the shore. No one is going back in the water,” Mr Morris said.
Sergeant Graham Clifford said police and ambulance arrived at the beach shortly after the attack at 1.26pm today.
Police have identified the man, however it would not be publicly released until his next of kin was notified.
The beach has been closed and Dunsborough police are at the scene. The station’s officer in charge is expected to be making a statement at 4pm.
