This is the chilling moment a shark fatally attacked a surfer at a netted beach on the Australian Gold Coast.
Nick Slater, 46, was fatally mauled off the popular Greenmount Beach, Queensland, on Tuesday evening local time.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said a large tiger shark had been found since Mr Slater’s death, tangled in a net off Greenmount Beach.
“Further investigations will be conducted to discover if there is any link between it and the fatal attack,” Ms Palaszczuk told state Parliament.
Mr Slater suffered severe leg wounds and died at the beach despite the best efforts of emergency responders.
The footage of the attack was captured by a surf camera on the beach.
It shows a splash in the water as Mr Slater was taken under the sea by the shark. Nearby surfers saw the commotion and paddled over to see if they could help.
They dragged Mr Slater to shore but his wounds were fatal and he died at the scene. The footage also shows a large shark tooth embedded in Mr Slater's board.
One witness, who was in the water at the time of the attack, told 9News he saw the "unusual" sight of a large gathering of seagulls.
"All of a sudden I heard this lady screaming," he said.
Jade Parker said he was about to enter the surf at Greenmount Beach when he saw Mr Slater floating motionless near his board.
He waded in to help other surfers and lifeguards bring Mr Slater in, and found the 4-centimetre (1.6-inch) tooth lodged in Mr Slater’s board, which he said was from “an obvious white pointer”, another name for a great white shark.
“It was a good size bite to the board,” Mr Parker told Seven Network television.
“I do not want to get to the gory parts, but he was in a bad way. He was not conscious. It looked like he had already pretty much passed away at that point in time,” Mr Parker added.
Mr Slater's death is only the second fatal shark attack at one of Queensland’s 85 beaches that have been protected by nets and drum lines since as early as 1962, the state government said.
The first was a 21-year-old swimmer who was mauled by more than one bull shark off a netted beach on North Stradbroke Island, north of the Gold Coast, in 2006.
Before nets were put in place, the last fatal shark attack off a Gold Coast beach — 24 of which are now netted — was in 1958.
Shark nets are suspended from floats and run parallel to beaches. They are 186 metres (610 feet) long and 6 metres (20 feet) deep. But the sharks can swim under the nets and around their ends.
A Senate inquiry in 2017 found that Queensland shark nets create more harm than good.
The Senate committee said nets give beachgoers a false sense of security while entangling and killing protected marine species including whales and turtles.
Additional reporting by PA Media.
