2023-05-15 06:02:02
SYDNEY (AP) — Search teams found what appeared to be pieces of the wetsuit and board of a 46-year-old surfer who was attacked by a shark off Australia’s south coast, and police said they would continue to search for his remains. on Monday.
Simon Baccanello, a schoolteacher, was attacked Saturday while surfing with others near his home in Elliston, South Australia. His damaged surfboard was later found.
The board had “a bite in the center,” said Trevlyn Smith, head of the State Emergency Service.
Search teams found “items of interest” on Sunday near Walkers Rock, where the attack took place, South Australian police said Monday.
“One object appears to be a piece of wetsuit material and the other objects appear to be small pieces of white Styrofoam (possibly surfboard material),” the police statement said. The evidence would go through a forensic analysis.
After consulting with Baccanello’s family, police would continue to search the Walkers Rock area and nearby beaches following high tide for several days, the statement said.
Any debris is more likely to wash up on the beach rather than float out to sea, experts said.
Jaiden Millar was among a dozen surfers in the water with Baccanello when the shark attacked.
“I saw his board vertical, which means he was underwater and his board was being dragged down … trying to fight his way back to the surface,” Millar told News Corp.
It was Australia’s first fatal shark attack since February 15, when a swimmer was attacked by a 15-foot (4.5-meter) great white off a Sydney beach.
Less than two weeks earlier, a 16-year-old who jumped into a river from a personal watercraft died near Perth in what is suspected to be a bull shark attack.
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