Eerie scenes have emerged as Bondi Beach was cleared for the third day in a row after a great white shark was spotted near a group of unsuspecting surfers.<\/p>\n
The iconic beach was closed shortly before 7am on Thursday morning after a great white shark was seen in the water.<\/p>\n
Lifeguards stood alone on the sand as they operated shark drones and put up signs warning beachgoers to stay away.<\/p>\n
There was barely a soul on the beach as lifeguards worked to track down the shark. Some took photos of the empty shoreline and warning signs, while others continued their morning jogs and routines.<\/p>\n
Waverley Council confirmed the shark sighting on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWaverley Council was alerted to a shark sighting at Bondi Beach at around 6.45am this morning,\u201d a spokesperson told NewsWire.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeaches in the Waverley LGA remain closed and surveillance is underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWaverley Council lifeguards advise that all beaches in their local government area are closed following a sighting of a white shark at Bondi Beach,\u201d a Dorsal Watch statement read.<\/p>\n
The shark sighting was also confirmed by SharkSmart NSW.<\/p>\n
It is understood the shark was about 3m in size and got to within roughly 20 metres of the North Bondi rocks. <\/p>\n
Another shark was then spotted around 9pm, it is not known if it was the same shark.<\/p>\n
The latest closure comes as the NSW government prepares to expand its use of shark detection technology. On Wednesday, Premier Chris Minns said the state was developing a large-scale shark monitoring program that would rely heavily on drones and other emerging technologies, describing the proposal as potentially world-leading and saying NSW wanted to be at the forefront of shark detection.<\/p>\n
This is the third time a shark has been seen in the area this week, with the beach also emptied on Wednesday after a shark was spotted near swimmers.<\/p>\n
Chilling footage shared by Drone Shark App showed the great white shark swimming a short distance from the breaking waves.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Surfers attempting to enter the water quickly turned around once they were notified, sending the drone operator a thumbs up as they left the beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThird day running, here it is again,\u201d the drone operator said in the video.<\/p>\n
Long-time Bondi surfer Jason Offord said locals were taking the repeated sightings seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feeling in the community is like everyone\u2019s doing their jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe surfers and swimmers are staying out of the water when they\u2019re told to, which is not normal, but because there\u2019s been great whites spotted three days in a row I think everyone\u2019s taking extra precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Offord said many beachgoers had confidence in the surveillance measures being deployed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got the Surf Life Saving drone here today and yesterday and the day before, which is great, but you\u2019ve also got the local guys, Drone Shark, out every morning spotting them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been surfing for more than 40 years and I\u2019ve seen a few things over the years, but we\u2019re all super aware at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose Bay resident George said the closures had created an unusual atmosphere at Australia\u2019s most famous beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a bit eerie to be honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the beach and there\u2019s nobody swimming, nobody surfing, it\u2019s kind of weird because every day there\u2019d be somebody out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Harris said footage showing sharks swimming close to beachgoers was confronting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty scary when you think that there\u2019s swimmers there and they\u2019re totally unaware that there\u2019s a shark, especially a sizeable great white,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the recent sightings, he believes increased drone patrols could ultimately improve safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve just recently come out with more drone activity and patrols,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually think it\u2019s going to be safer than it was before. It makes me more at ease to go for a swim if there\u2019s drones patrolling and people there to sound an alarm and let you know if there\u2019s a shark in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Bondi was cleared out shortly before 7am after a shark was seen circling near beachgoers.<\/p>\n
Footage shared by Surfing World Magazine showed the empty waters as passers-by continued their morning jogs and routines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s wild to see Sydney\u2019s most populous beach empty with a fun little swell in the water,\u201d the video caption read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eerie scenes have emerged as Bondi Beach was cleared for the third day in a row after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-759377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759377","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=759377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}