A fisherman tried to warn surfers that a “big, angry” great white shark was circling near Granites Beach hours before a 28-year-old was mauled in the shallows.
Lance Appleby, from Port Lincoln, went missing near Streaky Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula just after 7pm local time on Thursday.
The experienced surfer’s board was discovered sporting a bite mark but so far there has been no sign of a body.
Police called off the search on Friday night but said they would continue in the morning.
Mr Appleby went missing near Streaky Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula – Mackenzie Sweetnami/Stockphoto
Jeff Schmucker, a friend and fisherman who runs Seafood on Stanley, said Mr Appleby had been dragged underwater by a great white.
“He caught a wave and flipped off the wave and proceeded to paddle back and he was attacked,” Mr Schmucker told 7NEWS, adding that a jet-skier had found a board with “a bite mark in the bottom and the rope severed in half”.
Mr Schmucker recalled reports of a fisherman having “an interaction with an angry, very voracious” 16ft great white, six miles north of Granites Beach on Wednesday.
“I was out crab fishing at the time and I heard that and I thought this is a recipe for disaster – this week with the looming swell,” he said.
‘Get out of the water’
Mr Schmucker said he had spoken to a fellow fisherman who, after a great white became tangled in his long line gear, knew he needed to sound the alarm.
“He went to Granites and alerted the surfers that were in the water. As he went past in his boat, he said: “Guys, there’s a big angry shark very close, you really should get out of the water.’”
A post on Facebook warned of a ‘large great white sighted acting aggressively near Granites, Streaky Bay’ – John White Photos/Moment RF
A warning to the South Australian West Coast shark alert forum on Facebook was also posted by Ben Schultz: “Large great white sighted acting aggressively near Granites, Streaky Bay,” he wrote.
It remains unclear whether Mr Appleby had been aware of the warnings when he entered the water on Thursday evening.
Search teams scoured the coastline on Friday looking for Mr Appleby.
A South Australia Police spokesman said: “The man’s body is yet to be found and an air, land and water search will be conducted early this morning with resources from police, SES [South Australian State Emergency Service] and local volunteers assisting.”
Mr Appleby was raised in the area, attending Streaky Bay Area School before moving to Port Lincoln to become an apprentice carpenter, according to his Facebook profile.
Social media photos documented a summer travelling in Europe, with visits to cities including London and Amsterdam, as well as a career playing Aussie rules football for the Marble Range Football Club.
Shark attacks in Australia are rare, with 255 fatal bites recorded since 1791 – Image Source
Mr Appleby’s disappearance comes over a year after Tod Gendle, 55, was fatally mauled by a great white shark at the same beach.
Mr Gendle was one of about a dozen surfers in the water at Granites, which is a known breeding ground for great white sharks when he was pulled down into the depths.
Despite a widespread search, only parts of his board and a piece of his wetsuit were recovered.
Shark attacks in Australia are rare, with 255 fatal bites recorded since 1791 in the country of 27 million people, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database.
In 2023, there were four fatal shark bites in Australia, compared with 125 coastal drowning deaths and 1,266 fatalities on the country’s roads.
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