By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-10 21:06:35 | Updated at 2025-03-11 00:23:57
3 hours ago
Emergency services have launched a desperate search for a surfer believed to have been attacked by a shark at a popular beach in Western Australia.
The incident occurred at Wharton Beach in the Duke Of Orleans Bay area, approximately 80km east of Esperance - and 660km from state capital Perth.
St John WA Ambulance rushed to the scene after receiving a call about a "possible shark bite incident" on Monday afternoon, according to The West Australian.
The surfer remains missing after witnesses reported seeing them in distress in the water.
"There were screams. There were people saying like 'get out', everything - it was a very panicked moment," one beachgoer, Joscelin Boissieux, said.
'There was only a surfboard left floating around... The water next to it was dark, with a shark's fin circling around,' Boissieux said (file photo)
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The species of the shark spotted isn't yet known.
"At this time it is unclear what has occurred and if a surfer is missing," a police statement added.
Search efforts are being hampered by the remote location of Wharton Beach.
Authorities have not yet released any information about the identity of the potential victim - and local residents have been advised to avoid the area while the search continues.
The surfer's disappearance follows three fatal shark attacks along the Esperance coast in the last eight years.
WA Police confirmed that 'a shark was sighted in the area a short time prior and beachgoers left the water' at Wharton Beach (pictured)
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Laeticia Brouwer, 17, died after being bitten by a white shark in 2017 - while diver Gary Johnsson and surfer Andrew Sharpe died in separate incidents in 2020.
And it comes just days after another high-profile shark attack in Sydney.
Mangyon Zhang, 56, was attacked by what is thought to have been a bull shark on the southeast edge of the city.
After waking up in hospital following life-saving surgery, she told her partner Maria Masutti: "I should be dead... I nearly died."
"Her leg's a bit of a mess, it’s gonna be a bit of a long recovery as she's lost use of her foot so there’s some sort of nerve or muscle damage, but it didn’t hit any arteries, which is good, so she lives to tell the tale," Masutti told Australia's Daily Telegraph.
