Great White Shark Attack
Surfer killed in shark attack Jul 11 2004
icWales
A SHARK attacked and killed a 30-year-old surfer at a popular west Australian beach.
The man was believed to have been surfing with friends on Saturday in the Indian Ocean at Left Handers beach, south of Gracetown, near Margaret River town, when he was knocked off his board.
The Western Australian department of fisheries confirmed that the surfer died but could not provide details of the attack.
A government boat began searching for the shark - possibly a great white -today.
The department said two sharks could have been involved.
The identity of the man, who police said was a visitor from Perth, has not been released.
Local surfer Bart Mulder said the attack was distressing but would not stop him from surfing.
"We were going to go down to the beach for a surf and a couple of blokes came up and said `don't go down there, somebody's been bitten in half by a shark'," he told ABC radio.
"It's the first shark fatality down in the south west here. It's hard to say how I feel about it but it won't stop me surfing."
An ambulance official said the victim suffered extensive injuries to the pelvis and abdomen. He died on the beach before medical workers reached him.
A witness, who was not named, told Sky News television that two teenagers who pulled the victim out of the water said the shark was "as big as a car".
A police spokesman confirmed there were two sharks in the water at the time of the attack.
About 20 people were at the beach at the time. Witnesses said there were two sharks in the vicinity up to 16.4ft long, Channel Seven television reported.
Witnesses said the killer was a great white shark.
The last fatal shark attack in Australia occurred last year on the Gold Coast in Queensland. An 84-year-old man was killed while swimming in a canal linked to the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Gracetown was the scene of a tragedy in 1996 when nine people were killed in a cliff collapse at Huzza's Beach.
