© Rusty Watson via Unsplash
A 39-year-old man was killed on Sunday after a shark attack at Kennedy Shoal, a well-known deep-water fishing reef about 160 kilometers south of Cairns in Australia.
According to local media, the man was spearfishing on a private boat when he was attacked. He was pulled from the water by another person who was spearfishing with him.
The four passengers on the boat, including the person attacked, were brought ashore at the Hull Heads boat ramp. All help came too late; the man succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Local charter boat operators reported large numbers of "aggressive and unpredictable" bull sharks in the area. Exactly which species was responsible for the attack is not yet certain.
Daryl McPhee, a shark expert at Bond University in Queensland, told AFP that spearfishing has a specific risk profile that requires different precautions than, say, surfing. He also added that deadly shark attacks are rare in North Queensland: the last in that region was in 1990. Since 2020, there have been six fatalities in Queensland.
It's the third fatal shark attack in Australia this year. Last week, another similar incident occurred in Western Australia.
Illustration image: © Rusty Watson via Unsplash