Gold Coast man's horrific shark attack death caught on camera
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: A horrifying shark attack on the Gold Coast that left a surfer dead on Tuesday was caught on a surf report camera.
Footage obtained by The Courier-Mail shows the moment the man, surrounded by other surfers at Greenmount Beach, just north of the NSW border, is set upon by the shark in a split-second attack.
The man suffered fatal leg injuries, stretching from his hip to his knee.
The victim has been identified by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate as 46-year-old Nick Slater from nearby Miami.
Emergency services say the man was pulled from the water about 5.15pm (AEST) by surfers, but could not be saved.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, Queensland Ambulance said.
The beach has drum lines and is netted, however the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries stress they do not provide a “impenetrable barrier” between sharks and humans.
Queensland Ambulance Supervisor William Houghton said the victim was surfing with mates, one of whom witnessed the attack.
"It was a pretty traumatic event for everybody concerned," he said.
One man told Nine News he was filming his 13-year-old son in the water when he heard screams of: “Shark! shark!”
“The first thing that came to my mind was that I just wanted my son and his friends to be out of the water ... I couldn't feel my body at all, I was completely frozen, I was blank,” he said.
"I started screaming to my son to get out of the water."
A Westpac Lifesaver Rescue helicopter was circling in the area after first light on Wednesday looking for sharks.
Beaches from Burleigh to Snapper Rocks have been closed for the day and lifeguards are patrolling the waters on jet skis.
Ocean is ‘shark’s domain’, mayor warns
Mr Tate told the Today show on Wednesday while the death is a rare occurrence, people should remember to “look after your mates”.
“It brings to reality when we go off the land we go into water, it is the shark's domain. The danger’s there,” he said.
“But when you analyse the lifestyle activity versus danger, well that's what life is about and you know I wouldn't change my lifestyle down there.”
It's the first fatal shark attack at a Gold Coast beach since 1958.
It's also the second fatal shark attack in Queensland in little more than two months after 36-year-old Matthew Tratt died while spearfishing off Fraser Island in early July.
In June, Gold Coast surfer Rob Pedretti, 60, died after he was mauled by a three-metre white shark at Salt Beach at South Kingscliff in northern NSW.
with AAP
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