Board was found

Australia: Young surfer missing after shark attack

In Australia, emergency services are intensively searching for a young surfer who, according to eyewitnesses, was attacked by a shark. The surfboard was recovered a short time later by a helper on a jet ski - but there is no trace of the 28-year-old.

The attack occurred early Thursday evening (local time) at Granites Beach, south of the small town of Streaky Bay in the south of the country, reported the Australian broadcaster ABC, citing local police.

Beach temporarily closed
The man was from the town of Port Lincoln, a few hundred kilometers away. People had watched from the beach as he was attacked by the shark while paddling out on his board, it was said. Rescuers searched for him from the air and by boat, but without success. The beach remained closed for the time being.

Warnings of great white shark
A friend of the victim said that a great white shark had been spotted in the area hours before the attack. However, warnings on social networks had apparently not reached everyone.

The friend was convinced that the emergency services would probably not find the surfer's body in the sea. "His body is in the shark," the AAP news agency quoted him as saying. The man called on the authorities to search for and kill the shark. However, it is questionable whether this will be ordered: great white sharks are a protected species.

Fatal attack on the same beach in 2023
There had already been a fatal attack on the same beach on the Eyre Peninsula, which lies around 700 kilometers northwest of the city of Adelaide, at the end of 2023. Back then, a 55-year-old surfer was killed by a great white shark.