14 DAY TRIAL // This September 9, a 50-year-old man was attacked and killed by a shark while swimming in Australian waters. The attack is said to have occurred in the waters off the coast of Byron Bay, a town in New South Wales.
The man, whose identity has not yet been shared with the public, was splashing around fairly close to the coastline at the time when the shark turned against him. What's more, the waters he was swimming in were rather shallow.
How it all played out
According to The Guardian, the man was not a tourist, but a Byron Bay local who was merely enjoying a day at the beach together with his wife. When the shark attacked, the man's wife was sunbathing.
Witnesses say the shark appeared seemingly out of the blue, and bit into the victim. After taking the first bite, the animal swam away for a very short while. It returned just moments later, and delivered yet another injury.
Mark Hickey, a lawyer who got to see the shark attacking the 50-year-old swimmer, did not hesitate to get into the water and pulled the injured man back to land. When the victim was finally laid on the sand, it became obvious that he had sustained severe injuries to his right leg.
Authorities and paramedics were alerted, and soon enough, rescue crews arrived in the area. Unfortunately, the 50-year-old man passed away long before anybody got a chance to save him. He is the first victim of a fatal shark attack in these waters since 1993.
Reactions to the attack
Commenting on this incident, a Byron Bay local named Sally Howell said, “Everyone is shaken. We are waiting for his name to be released. The beach is a crucial part of life here and the bay was always seen as one of the safest places to swim. We are all just in shock.”
One other local, 70-year-old Richard Buxton, argued that, following this attack, there were little chances that local sharks would make another victim anytime soon, and that there was no reason to stop swimming in this part of Australia.
“The odds of someone else getting attacked now are very small. That there’s been a shark attack will not stop me from swimming,” the man told the press in an interview. “It’s not the sharks fault,” the 70-year-old went on to stress.
The shark behind the attack
This is yet to be confirmed, but word has it that the 50-year-old swimmer was killed by a great white shark. Police and emergency responders are now patrolling the waters off the coast of Byron Bay, and hope to soon locate the animal.
Once they find it, they plan to chase it away. More so if the animal does in fact turn out to be a great white shark, a species listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and therefore protected by law.