It is not known which species carried out the attack, but it could have been a great white shark, which has a large population in these waters. A 15-year-old boy was killed by a shark while surfing on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, police said on Friday.
The attack happened Thursday afternoon off Ethel Beach. “Unfortunately, the body of a teenage boy was recovered from the water,” police added, adding that the victim was from the Adelaide suburbs.
According to a resident of Ethel Beach cited by The Advertiser, another surfer tried to come to the aid of the teenager who had just been bitten on the leg. “The shark was circling around them while the guy pulled the boy out of the water. There was a lot of blood.”
Attacks increase with global warming
The number of shark bites has increased over the past four decades due in part to population growth and climate change, experts say. The warming of the oceans is leading sharks to move closer to the coast in search of prey.
In October, witnesses saw a shark carry off a 55-year-old surfer in its jaws at Granite Beach, also in South Australia. The body was never found. A great white shark had been seen lurking in the area.
In May, a 46-year-old surfer was attacked by a shark at Walkers Rock Beach, in the same state. His body was never found either, with search teams only finding a fragment of his suit.