Shocking close encounter at popular Queensland beach
A terrifying video uploaded to social media shows a shark swimming dangerously close to shore, right where people were swimming at a popular Australian beach.
The video was posted to Facebook and a screen recording of what appears to be the original vision has been widely shared online.
The footage shows a shark swimming close to the shore at Noosa River Mouth, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, according to a Facebook user who reposted the video.
“A mate just sent this video of a huge shark entering the Noosa River yesterday,” the Facebook post said.
“Not sure if it’s a bull or tiger. Keep an eye on your kids and dogs.”
The person who took the video on Snapchat, before sharing it to their personal Facebook page, said they were in the water before the shark was spotted.
“I was just f**king swimming there,” the Snapchat caption said.
According to Dorsal - Queensland Shark Reports, a shark reporting services, a shark sighting was reported on January 23 in the same location where the video was filmed.
“Reported by a swimmer who had just got out of the water,” the Dorsal Watch website says.
“The shark was thrashing slowly in the shallows near mouth of Noosa River.”
According to Dorsal, the shark was about 50 metres away from the shore and seen thrashing around at 10.21am, the shark was three meters in length, however the type of shark was not confirmed.
Yahoo News Australia has reached out to Dorsal to verify if the shark in the video is the shark which was reported on January 23.
Following a string of shark attacks around Australia, the debate around shark culling has been reignited.
Earlier in this month, Gary Johnson was fatally mauled by a shark off the coast of Western Australia.
“We were always aware of the risks and often told each other that if we were attacked by a shark that would just be unlucky," Mr Johnson’s wife Karen Milligan said following his death.
"We were completely against shark culling and I still am.
"We believed that if fish stocks were better protected then the risk to people in the water would be reduced."
On December 30 last year, a man was bitten by a shark in shallow water at an island on the Great Barrier Reef. The man, in his 30s, was flown to the Gladstone Hospital in a stable condition with minor injuries.
In October, two British backpackers were attacked while snorkelling at Hook Island in the Whitsunday Islands. One of the men lost his foot in the attack.
Following the attacks, LNP deputy leader Tim Mander called for the Queensland state government to implement more shark-protection measures, saying it was important, as North Queensland attracts a considerable number of tourists.
"We've been calling on the government for some time to adopt the LNP's shark control program, that involves smart drumlines and also involves aerial surveillance," he said.
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