The search continues for a feared diver who was killed by sharks off the coast of Australia
Wellington, New Zealand – A diver who went missing in Australia is believed to have died in a shark attack, authorities said Friday, as they searched the waters where the man went missing. The suspect, 28, was at sea in a famous 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 evening at Granites Beach, near the coastal town of Streaky Bay, went into the sea on a jet ski and retrieved the man’s surfboard, Senior Constable Rebecca Stokes told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“But there was just no sign of this guy, there was no sign of him,” Stokes told the ABC. “According to the descriptions of the witnesses, we are confident that you were sadly killed by this shark.”
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The beach was known to be frequented by sharks, Stokes said. He did not specify what type of shark is believed to be involved.
Emergency services and volunteers were searching the beach on Friday for the local man and the beach was closed to the public. Police were preparing the coroner’s report, the statement said.
Shark attacks in Australia are rare, with 255 reported bites since 1791 in the country of 27 million people, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database.
But the state of South Australia has registered more episodes in the past two years than usual. There have been five shark attacks on the state’s coast in 2023, three of which were fatal and one at the same beach in Thursday’s incident.
Scientists at the time said they did not know the reason for this cluster. There was one non-fatal shark bite off the coast of South Australia in 2024.
An Australian diver made a remarkable comeback late last year after suffering a severe summer shark attack off the coast of neighboring New South Wales. Kai McKenzie lost his right leg to a 15-meter great white shark on July 23, but vowed not to surf again, but to return to the same spot where he was attacked.
In mid-October, less than three months after losing his leg, he made good on the promise, as posted on his Instagram feed.
Researchers published a study in November that found flashing lights on surfboards it can actually help prevent shark attacks, presumably by making the boards and their passengers less visible to predators than seals.
