Surfer dies in 5th deadly West Australia shark attack in less than a year - Examiner.com

A 24-year-old man was killed by a shark while he was surfing off the coast of Western Australia Saturday morning, officials said.

Ben Charles Linden was surfing off Wedge Island, a popular holiday destination on the country's warm Indian Ocean coast, 100 miles north of the state's capital city of Perth at 9 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT Friday), when he was viciously attacked by the shark, police said.

According to witnesses, the surfer was around 45-55 yards offshore when the deadly incident occurred.

"There was just blood everywhere and a massive, massive white shark circling the body," eyewitness jet-skier Matt Holmes told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Holmes said he tried to grab the victim but the shark swam away with what was left of the corpse. His remains have yet to be recovered.

The shark was reportedly sighted in the area for several days before the deadly attack with beachgoers nicknaming the shark Brutus.

Saturday's incident marks the fifth fatal attack by sharks in Western Australia in less than a year, a figure The Australian newspaper calls "unprecedented."

Beaches in the area have been closed until further notice and a search-and-destroy mission is underway for the great white shark of 13 to 16 feet long as described to have done the deadly attack.

Fisheries Department shark response unit spokesman Tony Cappelluti said a boat was grid-searching the area with orders to capture and kill the shark.

However, Mr Cappelluti admitted the likelihood of capturing the shark, which was last sighted swimming out into deeper water, was slim.

There are 165 shark species in Australian waters and several, including great white, tiger and bull sharks, are dangerous to humans.

In April, West Australia Fisheries senior shark research scientist Rory McAuley said the state was the deadliest place in the world for shark attacks.

Western Australia, which is spending $14.3 million over the next four years to reduce the risk of attacks, had four fatal shark attacks in a six-month period from last September to last March, according to sharkattackfile, a website that tracks shark incidents.

Experts say the average number of attacks in the country has increased in line with population growth and the popularity of water sports.