A man is presumed dead after being attacked by a shark on an Australian beach

Authorities believe a man has died in Australia after suffering an unusual shark attack while surfing on a remote beach in the southern state of South Australia, police said Saturday.

The emergency services were called at around 10:10 local time (GMT+10) by bathers who reported that a surfer had been attacked by a shark on Walkers Rocks beach, located about seven kilometers from the coastal city of Elliston, according to explained the South Australian Police in a statement.

After the attack, the man disappeared, so teams from the police, emergency services and members of the local community “are conducting a search to locate him”, in an operation that includes some six boats and several motorcycles. water.

However, the police indicated that “it is believed” that the 46-year-old man died as a result of the blows struck by the animal, whose sighting is common on that beach, quite popular among surfers and divers but which has already registered other similar attacks in the past.

Last February, a 16-year-old teenager also lost her life as a result of a shark attack in Western Australia while practicing water sports with friends on the Swan River in the coastal city of Perth, when she was attacked by a shark.

Despite this, shark attacks against humans are not common and, according to the latest annual report of the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) from the University of Florida), in 2022 there were 57 unprovoked attacks of sharks worldwide, the lowest number of the decade.