Shark kills Australian spearfisher in ‘terrifying’ attack in front of friends
· Toronto Sun
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A man spearfishing with friends at the Great Barrier Reef was killed by a shark in the second deadly incident in Australia in just over a week.
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The 39-year-old victim — who has not named but was identified by Queensland Police as a resident of Mount Sheridan, Australia — was diving from a boat with three pals at Kennedy Shoal, about 160 km south of Cairns, when the fatal attack happened just after 12 p.m. on Saturday.
Police said a man who pulled the victim from the water was “pretty close” to the incident and witnessed the attack unfold, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .
The victim and the other three individuals were able to make it back to shore.
The man was immediately rushed to waiting paramedics, however he had “sustained injuries not compatible with life,” the local ambulance service said in a statement.
“The man had been spearfishing when he was attacked and died from a critical head injury,” Police Inspector Elaine Burns told reporters.
“I would assume they would be pretty traumatized, that’s quite a terrifying thing to see happen right in front of you,” Burns added.
Recent fatal shark attacks
Another spearfisher, also with friends, was killed May 16 at a coral reef off Rottnest Island near the southwest coast of Western Australia state, ABC reported.
His pals “witnessed the horrific event,” Western Australia Police Sgt. Michael Wear said.
Paramedics were unable to save the 38-year-old Perth man.
A 16-foot white shark was suspected in his case.
Earlier this year, four people were attacked within a 48-hour span along New South Wales beaches.
One boy, 12, died in hospital days after he was left severely wounded, according to a GoFundMe for his family.
In November, a rare double shark attack attacked a couple from Switzerland who were on holiday.
One woman was killed while a man was critically injured at at a remote beach in Crowdy Bay National Park in New South Wales, about 360 kilometres north of Sydney.
Sharks reported in the area
The species of shark involved in Saturday’s attack remains unknown, but bull sharks had been reported by fishers in the area prior to the deadly incident.
“We were chasing Spanish mackerel and had one eaten by a pack of six of them, four metres off the edge of the boat,” charter boat captain Gererd Pike told AFP, noting his vessel was about six miles from Kennedy Shoal when he saw a large number of “vicious, unpredictable” bull sharks in the area.
“We were not going to dip toes in the water,” he said, adding that he had heard the emergency call of the incident over his boat’s radio.
One boat operator noted that shark attacks in the area of Kennedy Shoal were rare, but bull sharks and target sharks exist there.
“It is not very common at all. It is one of those unfortunate things,” Rob Parsonage, of Mission Beach Dive, told AFP.
“The sharks are competing with the fishermen.”