Shark attack horror as drone footage captures missing surfer being killed at Australian beach
There are growing fears the body of a surfer who was dragged away by a shark may never be found after police reviewed drone footage of the gruesome incident.
Steven Jeffrey Payne, 37, from Melbourne, was surfing on a remote Western Australian beach near Esperance on Monday afternoon, where he was joined by his partner. Horrified bystanders reported hearing screams shortly before the surfer disappeared. His surf board was later found with bite marks in, but authorities are yet to locate his body.
Witnesses recalled the horror ordeal which reportedly lasted minutes. Beachgoer Joscelin Boissieux told local media: “There were screams. There were people saying like ‘get out’, everything – it was a very panicked moment.”
The incident happened around 37 miles from Esperance – 400 miles southeast of Perth. In a grim update issued by Esperance police Senior Sergeant Chris Taylor, it was revealed that a member of the public had been flying a drone above the picturesque beach at the time, which captured the attack on camera.
“I don’t think there’s much point in utilising all the resources that we have at the moment too much longer,” Sergeant Taylor said. “There was a lot of blood, the shark, and some other things that I don’t think any others need to see. The partner observed what happened yesterday, which is tragic,” he continued. The search is expected to be called off on Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s only so much of the bay you can keep searching over and over. At the moment, we haven’t recovered anything,” Sergeant Taylor told assembled media. The officer added that Mr Payne, his partner and their dog were five weeks in to a six-month holiday.
The beach, despite being popular with tourists and snorkellers, is only 60 miles from the closest shark monitoring hub. Detectives will now study Mr Payne’s surfboard to determine the size and species of shark involved in the attack.
A Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesman said they had been carrying out white shark tagging during the south coast seal pupping season. Nine white sharks were tagged, including six white sharks off Esperance between November last year and February.
A spokesman said: “DPIRD has tagged 206 white sharks in WA waters since 2009, with 145 tagged since January 2017.” The area where Mr Payne was not part of that monitored by the Shark Monitoring Network.
Esperance Shire President Ron Chambers told ABC Radio that the tragedy has affected many people. “The community’s been here before, they’ll wrap around each other and make sure they take care of each other. We’ve got absolutely fantastic beaches, and we get a lot of people down here who visit them.
“It is really sad that something like this has happened on that particular beach. They’re a wild animal that’s out in the ocean. People need to be vigilant and manage that risk as much as possible.”
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