A 35-year-old male diver has died after being bitten by a suspected 4.5m shark while spearfishing with family-members from a boat off the south coast of Western Australia.
Spearfishing is typically carried out by freedivers in Australia, and the fatality is the third shark-related incident involving a spearfisher in the country’s waters in the space of three weeks.
The latest incident occurred near Michaelmas Island yesterday (6 June). Western Australia Police said that they were alerted shortly before 11.30am and had paramedics waiting at Albany Marina on the mainland when the man, identified by family-members as Daniel Turpin, was brought back to shore by boat, a distance of some 13km.
Turpin received medical treatment for more than two hours after being brought ashore, but he could not be revived. No details of his injuries were released.
Additional caution
The shark was estimated to have been about 4.5m long, according to the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development (DPIRD). The species was not formally identified, though officials told media that preliminary information suggested that it might have been a great white shark.
Michaelmas Island lies in King George Sound some 400km south-east of Perth, and the area is popular with divers, fishers and recreational boat-users.
The DPIRD issued advice to people to exercise additional caution in waters around Michaelmas Island and to comply with any beach-closure notices issued by local authorities, park rangers or lifeguards.
The earlier fatalities involving spearfishers were 38-year-old Steven Mattaboni near Rottnest Island, also in Western Australia, on 16 May, and Michael Jensz, 39, on the Great Barrier Reef on 24 May.
Local authorities and the DPIRD were co-ordinating the response to the Michaelmas Island incident and a report is being prepared for the coroner.
