Surfers have returned to the water to honour shark attack victim Mercury Psillakis a week after his death at a popular Sydney beach.
Psillakis, 57, was killed when he was taken by a shark, believed to be an adolescent great white, about 10am on September 6. His board was cut in two, and he lost both his legs, police said.
Maria and Mercury Psillakis and daughter Freedom (centre).Credit: Courtesy of the Psillakis family
Moments before he was attacked, he warned surfers in the water with him of its presence, calling on them to group together.
“Merc is deeply loved by everyone who knows him,” Psillakis’ family said in a statement last week.
“Merc was impossible not to love – his energy was extraordinary and magnetic, his spirit full of fun and he created joy and happiness in every interaction he touched.”
On Saturday, friends and family returned to Dee Why as extra surf lifesavers patrolled the northern beaches and drones surveilled the water from above.
“There’s fear, but we’ve got to lean into fear,” former professional surfer and Psillakis’ friend Toby Martin told Nine News.
“We’re a hurting community, obviously. To confront what’s been presented to us in a place that we love going [to] every day, that’s what he would want, that’s what we want for our community.”