‘Shoot it!’: Aussies describe chilling attack just weeks before fatal shark mauling in New Caledonia

Just three weeks ago, couple Lance and Jane Rae witnessed a horrific shark attack in the same spot an Australian tourist was killed on Sunday.

Mortifying details of a previous shark attack in the same spot where an Australian tourist was killed on Sunday have been revealed by a shaken first responder.

Lance and Jane Rae were on a holiday in Noumea, New Caledonia, when on January 29 they opted for a relaxing walk along the beach.

Their serenity was suddenly interrupted by “the most awful screams” imaginable coming from the water near the jetty — the same spot where a 59-year-old Australian man was fatally attacked on the weekend.

“It was something like you would never want to hear in your life,” Mr Rae told news.com.au.

He immediately ran down the jetty and got as close to the screams as he could, and instantly realised his initial suspicion of a drowning was wrong.

A shark had viciously attacked 49-year-old local school teacher, Brigitte Soulard.

“It was only when I looked down that I realised she had been attacked. She had extensive wounds,” Mr Rae said.

A man on a stand-up paddle board was nearby at the time and had managed to pull the woman onto his board.

As he paddled her into shore, the “massive” shark swam circles around his board, following the heavy trail of blood.

Mr Rae’s wife Jane Rae and top Australian surgeon Professor Gary Hoffman were waiting in knee-deep water, but the panicked man was worried the shark might attack them.

Splashing could be seen in the water at the time of the attack on Sunday. Picture: francetvinfo

“The shark was still circling, and I just thought ‘I’ve got to get them out’,” he said.

“Police had arrived but no one was helping. I had to run and get clothing to make a tourniquet.”

Mr Rae was so terrified the shark would attack someone else that he asked a responding police officer to execute it.

“I could see the shark was coming in, and it was really big, so I said to one of police ‘shoot the shark’, but he wouldn’t,” he recalled.

“I said, ‘give me your gun and I’ll do it’ … it kept coming in and I just couldn’t believe how big it was, but he wouldn’t shoot it.”

Mr Rae managed to grab the front of the paddle board and pull it into the sand, safe from the shark.

“It was the most horrific thing. It’s something you wouldn't want to witness,” he said.

Given the extent of her injuries, having had a large bite taken from her buttock and losing an enormous volume of blood, he said it was incredible she had survived.

Mrs Soulard was understood to have since been transferred to Westmead Private Hospital in Sydney where she has been receiving treatment for her extensive injuries.

Mr Rae was in disbelief at how close in proximity Sunday’s attack was to the tragedy he witnessed just three weeks ago.

“I was absolutely shocked it happened exactly at the same place, about 20 or 30 metres from where the lady was attacked,” he said.

He has advocated for shark threats to be better advertised in high risk areas, particularly those popular with tourists who otherwise would be unaware of the shark attack history.

“People value the tourism and shark attacks damage the tourism, but people need to know,” he said.

Restaurant regularly tossed food into the water

The shark that killed the 59-year-old Australian tourist over the weekend may have been attracted to the crowded beach by food tossed into the water from a nearby restaurant’s viewing platform.

The man was killed on Sunday in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, authorities said, while swimming close to a pontoon about 150 metres from the beach in Noumea.

He was reportedly bitten several times before being brought to shore where emergency services tried to save him.

The jetty is close by to a restaurant where guests and staff throw food into the water off a viewing platform — known locally as a “feeding platform” because it is used to feed fish and often attracts sharks.

The beach had only reopened to the public three days earlier after a 49-year-old teacher lost her leg in a shark attack there on January 29.

A few days later, a shark reportedly charged at a man on a hydrofoil but he made a lucky escape.

In the wake of both incidents, locals were surprised the beach was reopened, with some saying they felt it should have stayed closed.

Shocking footage taken of Sunday’s attack appears to show splashing in the water near the pontoon – just metres away from other swimmers.

The man killed, who has yet to be identified, was understood to have been to have been travelling alone and was staying at nearby Le Meridien Hotel.

“It happened so close to shore, the poor victim was face down in the water when the jet ski got to him,” a guest at nearby Hotel Chateau Royal told Daily Mail Australia.

“There was blood everywhere, we could see it from the beach. So many people were in the water at the same time and they’d only reopened the beach a few days ago.”

An employee of the hotel said locals were nervous following the incidents and argued “something has to be done’.

The beach was closed immediately after Sunday’s incident and has not been reopened.

The man had major bite wounds in his leg and both arms, local prosecutor Yves Dupas told AFP.

He died at the scene despite receiving cardiac massage.

An Australian man has died after being attacked by a shark in New Caldedonia. Picture: France1

Many people were in the water at the time and witnessed the incident at the Chateau-Royal beach just south of Noumea.

There was a panicked rush back onto the beach and police evacuated the area. Noumea’s mayor, Sonia Lagarde, ordered the closure of most beaches in the area and the capture of tiger sharks and bull sharks in nearby waters.

Drones were deployed to track them and two were sighted before operations were suspended at nightfall, police said.

The prosecutor said an investigation would shed more light on the circumstances of the attack, which happened inside the zone watched over by lifeguards.

Crowds of beachgoers were on the beach just metres from where the attack unfolded. Picture: France1

New Caledonia lies south of Vanuatu and 1,200 kilometres east of Australia.

It ranks 13th in the world for the total number of shark attacks, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, which has kept a tally of worldwide shark attacks since 1958.

— With AFP