{"id":674091,"date":"2026-05-16T05:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674091\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T05:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:29:15","slug":"shark-attack-man-dies-after-shark-attack-on-was-rottnest-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674091\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark attack: Man dies after shark attack on WA’s Rottnest Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has died after a supected shark attack on Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia near Perth.<\/p>\n

Police said the 38-year-old was in the water at Horseshoe Reef near Geordie Bay when he is believed to have been bitten by a shark at about 10am (local time) today.<\/p>\n

A WA Police spokesperson said the man couldn’t be revived by St John WA ambulance paramedics after he was rushed to the shore.<\/p>\n

\"AA rescue helicopter on standby in Geordie Bay on Rottnest Island. (9News)\"StSt John WA ambulance paramedics and police were called at about 10am (local time) today. (9News)<\/p>\n

“WA Police will prepare a report for the Coroner,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

He has not yet been named.<\/p>\n

Surf Life Saving WA said on social media a five-metre white shark was seen at about 10am this morning 80 metres off shore.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rottnest Island is a popular tourist destination off the coast of the city of Perth and can be reached by ferry\ufeff.<\/p>\n

The area is a protected nature reserve known for its quokka population, white sand beaches and secluded coves.<\/p>\n

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development had been notified of the incident.<\/p>\n

Earlier today a spokesperson for DPIRD said the department was working with local authorities.<\/p>\n

\"AA police boat was also sent to the scene. (9News)\"AEmergency services gathered on the boat ramp this morning. (9News)<\/p>\n

String of shark attacks across Australia\ufeff<\/p>\n

There have been several shark attacks reported in Australia this year.<\/p>\n

He lost a leg in the attack on Sydney<\/a>‘s Northern Beaches.<\/p>\n

The 12-year-old junior lifesaver later died in hospital. \ufeff<\/p>\n

An 11-year-old boy had a lucky escape at Dee Why Beach<\/a> after a shark bit his board but otherwise left him unscathed.<\/p>\n

The attacks were attributed to previous wild weather considered a “once-in-a-500-year event”, which created the perfect environment for bull sharks to lurk in coastal waters around Sydney and wider NSW.<\/p>\n

He told 9News he was surfing by himself in murky water off the tourist town of Middleton when the shark “grabbed” his foot and knocked him off his board.<\/p>\n

He was about 100 metres offshore and frantically paddled back to land.<\/p>\n

Back in March, a man was bitten by a shark while snorkelling around the Great Barrier Reef.<\/p>\n

He and two other men were \ufeffswimming from a private vessel on the western side of Lady Elliot Island in Queensland when the attack took place around 8am.<\/p>\n

He was bitten on the elbow and helped to shore by the other two men.\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

Australia heads world table for shark attacks<\/p>\n

Australia<\/a> recorded the world’s highest total of fatal shark attacks on humans last year, with more great whites gathering in waters popular with surfers, research released earlier this year found.<\/p>\n

The global total of 12 fatalities was up from the previous year’s seven.<\/p>\n

\"AustraliaAustralia recorded the world’s highest total of fatal shark attacks on humans last year. (Getty)<\/p>\n

There were 65 confirmed unprovoked attacks globally, a jump from the 47 in 2024 and above the five-year average of 61.<\/p>\n

Last year US waters had the most incidents at \ufeff25, with 11 off the coast of Florida.<\/p>\n

Australia was in second spot recording 21 unprovoked attacks.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Florida<\/a> who drew up the report noted an increase in fatalities from great whites.<\/p>\n

Bigger numbers of the species at “aggregation sites”, beaches favoured by surfers, especially in Australia, may be behind this, they suggested.<\/p>\n

The Australian coastline is also home to the bull and tiger sharks, which along with great whites make up the “big three” \ufeffpredators.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has died after a supected shark attack on Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-674091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}