A search is underway for the physique of a person believed to have been killed by a shark whereas he was browsing.
The 55-year-old surfer was attacked by a shark close to Streaky Bay in South Australia at round 10:20 a.m. native time on Tuesday. The person was additional out within the water than the opposite surfers off the seaside on the time, a lot of whom witnessed the assault. “He grabbed him, pulled him again down, introduced him again up, pulled him again down once more,” one witness informed native media 7NEWS.
One of many surfers, Jeff Schmucker, tried to assist the person, discovering solely a surfboard with a chew in it and a 13-foot shark. Witnesses from the clifftops who noticed the assault estimate that the shark was extra like 14 or 15 ft lengthy, native information 9NEWS reported.
“The person’s physique is but to be discovered and the search will proceed by to days finish,” South Australia Police stated in a press release.
The precise species of shark concerned within the assault has not been confirmed, nevertheless, 7NEWS has shared a video of a giant nice white shark—additionally known as white pointers—swimming within the space instantly after the assault.
Nice white sharks are the most important predatory fish on this planet, and might develop to lengths of 20 ft lengthy and weigh as much as 5,000 kilos.
“Nice white sharks are apex predators,” Kerstin Bilgmann, a lecturer in organic sciences at Australia’s Macquarie College, informed Newsweek. “Evolutionary they’re a really outdated species which suggests they’ve been within the oceans for a really very long time.”
These sharks are thought to have developed between 4 and 10 million years in the past, and have remained the identical ever since.
The Florida Museum of Pure Historical past’s Worldwide Shark Assault File says there have been 57 unprovoked shark bites on people worldwide in 2022, 9 of which have been in Australia and 41 within the U.S. Between 2012 and 2021, Australia noticed 143 shark assaults, leading to 20 fatalities.
The assault could also be partially as a result of time of 12 months, which is when seal pups are studying to swim and whales are discovered migrating by the world. “That’s a time when white sharks are available shut and may be searching for these meals sources,” shark professional Andrew Fox informed 9NEWS.
This tragedy marks the third shark assault off the South Australian coast this 12 months, solely weeks after a girl was bitten on the leg whereas swimming, and some months after a person was attacked and killed whereas browsing.
The area people is distraught by the information of the deadly assault. “I feel folks in Streaky Bay for the time being will likely be worrying so much… in a small city, most individuals know everybody,” native resident Suzie Kenny informed ABC Information Australia. “It’s a tight-knit browsing group. Folks take care of one another on the market.”
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This article by Jess Thomson was first printed by Newsweek on 31 October 2023. Lead Picture: An incredible white shark breaks the floor of the waves. Authorities are trying to find the physique of a surfer who was attacked probably by such a specimen off the Australian coast. ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS.
