The 41-year-old man was Japanese but for the past year he’s lived in New South Wales in the town of Ballina, where the attack occurred. He and friends were lying on their surfboards in the waters off Shelley Beach, waiting for a wave to come up when the shark, unbeknownst to the surfers, swam up behind them. It raised up and bit down on the man’s board, chomping away the back of the board and both of his legs.
His friends managed to get him into shore without a further attack from the shark and performed CPR and tried to apply a tourniquet. Their efforts were to no avail as the man died on the beach. The mayor of Ballina, David Wright, told media that “because both legs were gone, he bled to death very quickly.”
Detective Inspector Cameron Lindsay of the local police said they are now searching for what they believe was a very large shark and it may be killed if found. “Once we know what type of shark it is and receive advice on whether or not that shark poses a threat to humans,” he said. “Then we’ll assess what we’ll do about the shark.”
It was in an area only 20 kilometers away from another beach, Seven Mile Beach, where a surfer was attacked the previous day. That surfer suffered lacerations to his legs and is listed in stable condition in hospital. Wright said they believe the attacks came from the same shark. and officials have closed Shelley Beach.
In December in Western Australia at a beach called Cheynes Beach near the city of Albany, a teenager was killed by a white pointer shark while he and a friend were spearfishing. The dead teen’s friend was also attacked by the shark but pushed his speargun into the shark’s mouth and fired and the shark swam off.
Most years there are about two shark attack fatalities in Australia, but this was the country’s sixth such death in the past 12 months.
