{"id":288871,"date":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288871\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","slug":"shark-kills-swimmer-off-western-australian-city-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288871\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark kills swimmer off Western Australian city beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Boats and helicopters searched the ocean off Sorrento Beach in Perth\u2019s northern suburbs after the late morning attack, but police would not say whether potential remains had been found.<\/p>\n<p>However, police were confident the \u201cswimmer died as a result of the attack\u201d, a statement said.<\/p>\n<p>A witness to the attack, Darrel Haythornthwaite, told Nine Network television that the victim had been swimming with a now traumatised friend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just shocked. I mean, I feel for his mate. He\u2019s apologised and said \u2018I didn\u2019t save my mate\u2019,\u201d Mr Haythornthwaite told Nine. \u201cI said, \u2018You couldn\u2019t have done anything\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/cdbb18c996d4482885c06a25b3285565.jpg\" alt=\"Police on a beach\" data-title=\"Australia Shark Attack\" data-copyright-holder=\"AP\" data-copyright-notice=\"\" data-credit=\"Andrew O\u2019Connor\" data-usage-terms=\"This content is intended for editorial use only. For other uses, additional clearances may be required. Not for Use in-Television Not for Commercial-Use  No Use in Australia Not for Commercial Use Not for Use in Television\"  \/>Authorities closed the beach to swimmers (Andrew O\u2019Connor\/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses reported seeing blood in the water.<\/p>\n<p>Beach walker Jacqui Rapaic told Australian Broadcasting Corp: \u201cMy friend said, \u2018Jac, I think there\u2019s been a shark attack\u2019, and I looked out to the ocean and I could see a pool of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local Ryan Rowe reached the beach soon afterwards and said he was was told by an onlooker \u201csomeone had been bitten by a shark\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe there was that much blood (that had) come out of a human body,\u201d Mr Rowe told The West Australian newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities closed the beach to swimmers. Witnesses described the swimmer as a man in his 60s but police did not identify him further.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a surfer sustained a serious leg wound in a shark attack near Geraldton, about 250 miles north of Perth.<\/p>\n<p>There have been five fatal shark attacks in Australia this year.<\/p>\n<p>Three spearfishing divers were killed by sharks off the Australian coast in four weeks over May and June.<\/p>\n<p>In January, a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour.<\/p>\n<p>Australia has averaged between two and three fatal shark attacks a year since 2000, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database, a partnership of the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Flinders University and the New South Wales state government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boats and helicopters searched the ocean off Sorrento Beach in Perth\u2019s northern suburbs after the late morning attack,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-288871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}