Horror as great white shark attacks young swimmer in Western Australia
The beach was closed off by the local authorities "to ensure the safety of the community"
July 24, 2023
A person in his 20s surfing near the picturesque Gnarabup Beach, south of Perth was attacked by a great White Shark Monday and was injured, with authorities in Australia saying the victim is in stable condition.
The man was bitten while enjoying a morning surf near the popular surfing spot on the Western coast.
A spokesperson for Western Australia Country Health Service told AFP the young man was in "stable condition Monday evening".
The beach was closed off by the local authorities "to ensure the safety of the community", while state authorities called on people to report shark sightings.
According to The West Australian newspaper, he was helped by a nurse after he managed to reach a nearby cafe.
Other surfers took him to a local hospital and he was later transferred to the larger Bunbury Regional Hospital, with photos on the newspaper’s website showing him arriving on a stretcher, sitting upright and awake.
More than 100 of the world's 370-plus shark species live in Western Australian waters — from the 30-centimeter pygmy shark to the world’s biggest fish, the gentle whale shark, which can grow up to 12 meters long.
Earlier last month a Russian national was killed in a tiger shark attack near the city of Hurghada at a Red Sea resort.
According to Egypt’s environment ministry, it had caught the shark and was examining it in a laboratory to try and determine the reasons for the rare attack.
According to the Taronga Conservation Society’s Australian Shark Incident Database, there have been 16 deadly shark attacks recorded in the waters off Western Australia since 2010, the most recent in February this year, when a teenage girl died.
