Surfer killed by 13ft nice white shark, witnesses concern: ‘He caught him’

A search is at the moment underway for the physique of a person believed to have been killed by a shark whereas browsing.

The 55-year-old surfer was attacked by a shark close to Streaky Bay in South Australia at round 10:20am native time on Tuesday. The person was within the water longer than different surfers on the seashore on the time, lots of whom witnessed the assault. One witness informed native media: “He grabbed him, pulled him down, put him again up, then pulled him down once more.”.

One surfer, Jeff Schmucker, tried to assist the person, however discovered nothing however a surfboard with a chew and a 13-foot shark. Clifftop eyewitnesses who noticed the assault estimate the shark was about 14 or 15 toes lengthy, native information 9NEWS reported.

South Australian Police stated in a press release: “The person’s physique has not but been discovered and the search will proceed till the top of days.”

The precise kind of shark concerned within the assault has not been confirmed, nevertheless, 7NEWS shared a Video of a great white shark– additionally known as white pointers – swim into the realm instantly after an assault.

Nice white sharks are the world’s largest predatory fish, and might develop 20 toes lengthy and weigh as much as 5,000 kilos.

“Nice white sharks are predators,” stated Kirsten Bilgeman, a lecturer in organic sciences at Australia’s Macquarie College. Newsweek. “Evolutionarily talking, they’re a really historical species which suggests they’ve been round within the oceans for a really very long time.”

These sharks are thought to have advanced 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 in the US. Between 2012 and 2021, Australia skilled 143 shark assaults, leading to 20 deaths.

The assault might have been partly as a result of time of yr, a time when seal pups are studying to swim and whales are discovered migrating by means of the realm. “That is the time when white sharks get nearer and might search for these meals sources,” shark knowledgeable Andrew Fox informed 9NEWS..

The tragedy marks the third shark assault off the coast of South Australia this yr, simply weeks after a lady was bitten within the leg whereas swimming, and simply months after a person was attacked and killed whereas browsing.

The local people is distraught by information of the lethal assault. “I feel folks in Streaky Bay in the meanwhile can be very fearful,” native resident Susie Kenny informed ABC Information Australia. “In a small city, most individuals know everybody.”. “It is a close-knit browsing neighborhood. Individuals deal with one another on the market.”

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