A teenage boy has been killed in a shark attack at a well-known surfing spot on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
The boy, described in local reports as a “talented” 15-year-old surfer who’d been at the beach with his father at the time of the attack, was in the water near Ethel Beach in Innes National Park when a shark grabbed his leg.
“The shark took his leg, and so another local guy ran out, jumped on his board and paddled out to help him,” one witness told the Adelaide Advertiser. “The shark was circling them as the guy pulled the boy out of the water. There was a lot of blood. He brought him to shore but I think it was too late by then.”
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Authorities confirmed that police responded to the incident at about 1:30 p.m. local time after being alerted to a “seriously injured” person.
“Sadly the body of a teenage boy was recovered from the water,” South Australia Police said in a statement.
No further details about the victim were immediately available.
Marty Goody, a resident interviewed by ABC News, said the teen boy had been visiting the area with his family.
“It was a beautiful day, there were a lot of people swimming and that down there and the surf was very small so they wouldn’t have been very far off the shore,” he said.
“I’ve been surfing down here for 40 years and there’s always been sharks and you’ve always known there’s sharks there but there does seem to be a lot more of them now,” Goody said.
Nadine Valente, the owner of a fishing charter business, said she’d seen an ambulance heading to the shore. “It really hits close to home when it happens in your backyard,” she said.
