Wellington, New Zealand — It is believed that the surfer who went missing in Australia died in a shark attackauthorities said Friday as they searched the water where the man went missing. The 28-year-old was in the sea at a popular surfing beach in South Australia, where another man was killed by a great white shark in 2023.
A witness who saw the shark attack on Thursday night at Granites Beach, near the coastal town of Streaky Bay, drove a jet ski into the sea and took the man's surfboard, Senior Constable Rebecca Stokes told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“But this young man just wasn't there, he just wasn't there,” Stokes told the ABC. “We're pretty sure from the witness accounts that unfortunately he was killed by that shark.”
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Sharks are known to frequent the beach, Stokes said. She did not specify what type of shark was believed to be involved.
Emergency services and volunteers searched the sea for a local man on Friday and the beach was closed to the public. Police are preparing an investigator's report, the statement said.
Shark attacks in Australia are rare, with 255 fatal bites in the country of 27 million people since 1791, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database.
But the state of South Australia has seen more episodes than usual over the past two years. There have been five shark attacks off the state's coast in 2023, three of them fatal and one on the same beach as Thursday's incident.
Scientists at the time said they did not know the cause of the cluster. In 2024, there was one non-fatal shark bite off the coast of South Australia.
At the end of last year, another Australian surfer made a remarkable return to the waves after a serious shark attack in the summer off the coast of the neighboring state of New South Wales. Kai McKenzie lost his right leg by a 15-foot great white shark on July 23, but he vowed not only to surf again, but to return to the same spot where he was attacked.
In mid-October, less than three months after he lost his leg, he fulfilled his promise, which was documented in person Instagram feed.
Researchers published a study in November that found bright light on surfboards can actually help prevent shark attacks, probably by making the boards and their riders look less like seals to predators.