Shark kills man on Australia's Gold Coast tourist strip
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 6 months AGO
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A shark fatally mauled a man on Tuesday on Australia’s Gold Coast city tourist strip, an official said.
The man was brought to shore by surfers at Greenmount Beach with critical injuries, Queensland state Ambulance Service spokesman Darren Brown said.
Paramedics determined the man was already dead on the beach, Brown said.
The death is only the second fatal shark attack on the Gold Coast since the city’s 85 beaches were first protected by shark nets and drum lines in 1962.
Sharks nets are suspended from floats and run parallel to beaches. Sharks can swim under the nets and around the ends of the nets.
No details were immediately available about the shark.
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.
Australia's last fatal shark attack was north of the Gold Coast near Fraser Island on July 4. A 36-year-old spear fisherman died hours after he was bitten on a leg.
A 60-year-old surfer was killed by a 3-meter (10-foot) great white shark at an unprotected beach south of the Gold Coast near Kingscliff on June 7.