FATAL – 14 July 2012 — Wedge Island, north of Lancelin, Western Australia – surfer attacked

“By the time I got out there half of him had been taken and the shark was circling.”

Ben Linden was killed by a shark while surfing off Wedge Island in Western Australia

Ben Linden, 24, died from his wounds after being attacked by a shark while surfing about 4 km south of Wedge Island, north of Lancelin, Western Australia. The incident happened around 9am on 14 July 2012.

Linden was reportedly with a friend when the attack happened. The attack is believed to be by a great white shark.

A Fisheries Department spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“The two people were in the water surfing or waiting for a wave when the victim was attacked by a shark.”

He said two other surfers, one on a jet ski and the other being towed came over to help when they saw a commotion in the water.

He said the man’s friend and the others surfers were not in a position to help and went back to shore and contacted the police.

He said Linden’s body was not recovered.

The guy on the jetski was quoted as saying:

“I was towing my mate on the back of the jetski and in front of us I just saw a guy get attacked by a shark and I just took my mate straight to the shore and went straight out and there was just blood everywhere and a massive, massive white shark circling the body.

“By the time I got out there half of him had been taken and the shark was circling.

“I tried to lean off the side and pull him on the back, but as I did that, the shark came back and nudged the jet ski to try to knock me off.

“When I came back the second time, he took the rest of him. I just thought about his family and if he had kids. I just wanted to get him to shore. I gave it everything I had.”

Sources:
Illawarra Mercury
Daily Telegraph

PIC Source:
Daily Telegraph

FATAL – 31 March 2012 — south of Stratham near Busselton, Western Australia – diver attacked

Peter Kurmann was killed by a shark while diving off Western Australia

Peter Kurmann, 33, was attacked and killed by a four-metre great white shark around two kilometres off Stratham Beach, near Busselton, Western Australia. The incident happened on Saturday 31 March 2012.

Kurmann was diving with his brother, who was not harmed in the attack. His brother reportedly dragged Kurmann’s body back onto the dive boat and took him to Port Geographe Marina, near Busselton.

The brother is reported to have said he saw a 4-metre shark in the area at the time of the attack.

No other details of the incident were reported.

Sources:

ABC

The Telegraph

Asia One

PIC Source:

ABC

FATAL – 22 October 2011 – Rottnest Island, Western Australia – diver attacked

A 32-year-old diver (name not reported) was killed by a three-metre great white while diving 500 metres north of Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

Initial reports are quite thin. All they say is that witnesses on the dive boat saw a large amount of bubbles before the man surfaced with ‘horrific’ and ‘obviously fatal’ injuries.

Two people on the boat described the shark as a 3-metre great white.

It is the third fatal shark attack off the west coast of Australia in two months.

The blog will be updated when we have more details.

Sources:

The Guardian
Channel News Asia

FATAL – 10 October 2011 – Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia – swimmer disappears

It is believed a shark took swimmer Bryn Martin, 64, while he was swimming off Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia on Monday morning 10 October 2011. He disappeared while taking his regular early morning swim. His body has not been recovered.

His bathing costume was recovered with bite marks consistent with a 3-metre great white shark, according to press reports.

At the time of this blog post police were searching for his body and had classified it as a recovery operation, rather than a rescue operation.

Martin was last seen by a friend swimming out past the pylon in front of the Indiana Tea Rooms at about 8am on Monday morning.  He was a couple of hundred metres offshore when he disappeared.

Further details are awaited.

Sources:

Perth Now

INJURED – 30 October 2010 – Garden Island Naval Base, near Rockingham, Western Australia

Shark victim Elyse Frankcom

Elyse Frankcom, 19, was bitten on the hip and left buttocks by a great white shark while snorkelling with a few other divers off Garden Island Naval Base, near Rockingham, Western Australia. Reports say she suffered puncture wounds, but no loss of flesh. The incident happened at 12.30 pm on Saturday 30 October 2010.

The media praised an unidentified man as a hero after grabbed the tail of the 3-metre great white in an attempt to pull it off Frankcom. The shark subsequently released its grip and swam away. Witnesses at the scene said it was unlikely she would have survived had he not bravely intervened.

“As the shark bit her, it brushed aside a fairly large male who grabbed hold of the tail of the shark, which then made it let go,” said Frank Pisani, Fremantle Sea Rescue senior skipper, one of the first rescuers on scene.

“The girl then started to sink to the bottom and he grabbed her and brought her to the surface and got her back on board the boat. He certainly was instrumental in making this a good outcome.”

Pisani said there was a paramedic on the boat, but no first-aid equipment, so sea rescue volunteers worked to stabilise the badly bleeding victim.

“We used all our first-aid equipment and did all we could to stem the bleeding before the RAC rescue helicopter arrived,” he said.

“There were very deep puncture wounds, quite wide but there was no actual loss of flesh.”

The unidentified 'hero' who pulled the shark of Frankcom

Another witness said they had been swimming in quite shallow water about 7 metres of water. They had two dolphins right by Frankcom’s side and we believe this shark has come in from the bottom and grabbed hold of her. Frankcom had been hosting a swim-with-the-dolphins tour for Rockingham Wild Encounters when the shark attacked.

This witness said Frankcom also punched the shark on the nose.

She was taken to Royal Perth Hospital where she was said to be recovering well.

Sources:
The Daily Telegraph

ABC

PIC Source: PerthNow

FATAL – 17 August 2010 – South Point, Gracetown, Western Australia – surfer attacked

South Point, Western Australia

A 31-year-old man (name not immediately released) died of his wounds after being bitten on the right leg by a shark while surfing at South Point near Gracetown, Western Australia. He was apparently surfing alone.

The attack occurred around 8.15am local time on Tuesday 17 August 2010.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, a local resident saw the attack and saw the man come off his board. He rushed down to the beach with some friends and found the man washed up on the rocks with a big gash in his right leg. He was unconscious. They applied a tourniquet with a surfboard leash and waited for an ambulance to arrive.

The man was taken to Margaret River Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The eye witness said there were seals in the bay at the time of the attack.

No other details were reported.

Expect an UPDATE later…

Apparently his board was bitten in half – must have been a humungous shark!

UPDATE 18 August 2010.

A policeman holds Nick Edwards' board after the fatal attack

The surfer’s name was Nick Edwards. Witnesses said his thigh and calf were totally shredded.

The shark was believed to have been a great white.

There were about 4 other surfers in the water who paddled ashore when a surfer on land shouted “Shark, shark” after seeing the victim on the rocks.

Sources:
Sydney Morning Herald
Daily Mail

PICS
Wannasurf.com
Daily Mail

INJURED – 6 June 2010 – Conspicuous Beach, near Walpole, Western Australia – surfer attacked

Michael Bedford (age not reported) suffered deep gashes to his right leg after being bitten by what is presumed to be Great White shark while surfing 150 metres offshore at remote Conspicuous Beach, near Walpole, Western Australia. The incident happened around noon on Sunday 6 June 2010.

Various media reports say the shark knocked him off his board. It is not clear when the shark bit him – either in the initial attack when it knocked him off his board or when it returned. Bedford apparently hit the shark which let go. He climbed back on his board and caught a wave on his belly to the beach. A friend and a group of fishermen on the beach carried him on his board up some cliffs to a car park and used his board leash as a tourniquet while they waited about half an hour for an ambulance. He was taken to Albany Regional Hospital about an hour’s drive away. He had surgery and was reported in a stable condition the following day.

Quotes from the reports:

Bedford’s friend Lee Cummuskey told The West Australian that he watched the attack from the beach.

“We had both been out surfing, I had only just come in, I had broken my leg rope and had to swim in..

“I just sort of got to the beach and was only on the beach for a minute and I was keeping my eye on Mick, because he was a long way out and on his own.

“And bang I saw the hit, I didn’t really see the fish … I could just see this explosion of water and I knew straight away what had happened.”

He said Bedford spotted the shark when it was 20m away and racing “straight for him”.

“He thought it was just going to go under him, but it suddenly came up and hit him … and I think that is when it bit him.

“It hit him once and then came back a second time. He thought it was a white pointer, he is not totally sure, but he said it had a bloody big head on it,” Cummuskey added.

Cummuskey told ABC Radio: “He gave it a good whack he reckons, a good punch and that doesn’t surprise me knowing Mick.

Bedford managed to get back on his board and catch a wave on his belly to the beach.

“As soon as he hit the beach he rolled off the board into the white water. It was pretty ugly,” Cummuskey said.

“It is your worst nightmare and Mick’s been through it and survived so he’s just really lucky.”

 ”He was so lucky in so many ways . . . there were actually quite a lot of people down there, normally we would be the only ones.

“Mick is a big guy, he is close to 100kg, there is no way I could have got him up, we are talking 300m to 400m to the car park up the stairs.”

According to the Herald Sun, many local fishermen talk of the monstrous great whites in the area – nicknaming them ‘Noahs’ – that swamp even professional deep-sea trawlers in size.

Sources:

The West Australian

Associated Press

 Sydney Morning Herald

Perth Now

Herald Sun