Overview
- The victim was identified as Brad Smith, who was surfing at Left Handers Beach near Gracetown, roughly 250 km from Perth.
- Eyewitnesses described one shark bursting from the water and smashing his board in two as a second shark circled, with estimates of car‑like size and a tall dorsal fin.
- Friends paddled out and brought him to shore, where an anaesthetist assessed that his injuries were unsurvivable.
- Police later recovered his surfboard bearing extensive bite damage consistent with a powerful attack.
- Fisheries conducted boat and helicopter searches without locating the animals, and reports say great white sharks are suspected though not officially confirmed.