Family of missing surfer in suspected shark attack speaks out

A drone has captured a fatal shark attack on a surfer off a remote Australian beach, as police say the man’s body may never be found.

The body of a surfer taken by a shark may not be found as police reveal drone footage captured the gruesome incident.

The surfer taken by a shark on a remote Western Australian beach has now been named as 37-year-old Steven Jeffrey Payne, of Melbourne.

His partner was on the beach on WA’s south coast on Monday afternoon.

The incident happened about 60km from Esperance, about 650km southeast of Perth.

Esperance police Senior Sergeant Chris Taylor gave a grim update from the scene on Tuesday, and revealed a member of the public had been flying a drone above the picturesque beach at the time.

“I don’t think there’s much point in utilising all the resources that we have at the moment too much longer,” Senior 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.”

Witnesses recalled hearing screams before leaving the water. Picture: 9News

“The partner observed what happened yesterday, which is tragic,” he said.

The search would likely 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.

Sergeant Taylor said Mr Payne and his partner, with their dog in tow, were five weeks in to a six-month travelling holiday.

The beach is popular with holiday-makers and in particular snorkellers, but is 100km from the nearest shark monitoring beacon.

Authorities will examine Mr Payne’s surfboard to determine the size and species of shark involved in the attack, which could take some time.

A Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesman said they had been conducting 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.

The surfboard was located a short distance from the incident. Picture: 9News

“DPIRD has tagged 206 white sharks in WA waters since 2009, with 145 tagged since January 2017,” a spokesman said.

However, the area where the surfer was attacked is not monitored by the Shark Monitoring Network.

The closest network receivers are located about 100km west of where the incident took place.

Emergency services were called to Wharton Beach in Cape Le Grand, Condingup, approximately 60km east from Esperance, about 12.10pm AWST on Monday after reports of a possible shark bite incident.

Witnesses recalled seeing a “massive shark” launch itself at the surfer in chest-deep water and hearing loud screams.

One of the beachgoers, Joscelin Boissieux, said the surfer’s partner could only watch in horror at the sight.

“There were screams,” Ms Boissieux told 9News.

“There were people saying like ‘get out’, everything – it was a very panicked moment.”

As the scene unfolded, witnesses scrambled to get out of the water and watched as the surfboard with bite marks floated roughly 30m from the shore.

“The water next to it was dark, with a shark’s fin circling around,” Ms Boissieux told the outlet.

Esperance Shire president Ron Chambers told the ABC tagging devices had been installed along the coastline, but said the sharks’ movements remain unpredictable.

“They’re a wild animal that’s out in the ocean,” he said.

“We have no control over their movements or where they can or can’t go, so there is a risk when you do go into the water.”

Mr Chambers told the ABC it was “really sad that something like this happened” at the WA beach.

“We’ve got absolutely fantastic beaches and we get a lot of people down here that visit them,” he told the outlet.

He said visitors needed to be “vigilant” when swimming and surfing in the water and “manage that risk as much as possible”.

An unknown species of shark was spotted about 50m from the shore of Wharton Beach at 12.15pm Monday, according to the SharkSmart website.

Wharton Beach remains closed, with signage at the entrance of the beach warning visitors of a shark in the area.

Little Wharton is also closed, the Shire of Esperance website confirmed.

The council will reassess whether the beach will re-open on Tuesday afternoon.

“We thank you for your co-operation and ask that you please stay away from the area,” the council website says.

Originally published as Family of missing surfer in suspected shark attack speaks out