Surfer narrowly escapes injury in shark attack off Broome, WA

A surfer attacked by a large shark in WA’s north less than three weeks after a man was killed at the same beach thought he’d bumped onto his mate.

Cable Beach in Broome has had its second shark attack in less than three weeks. Picture: Twitter

A surfer has had a narrow escape in a shark attack off Western Australia’s north, with the predator chomping down on his board instead.

Surf Life Saving WA said Cable Beach in Broome was closed after it was reported the surfer had been struck by an unknown species of shark at 7am on Wednesday about 50m offshore.

The surfer was not injured but the large shark bit his board, leaving teeth marks.

Fisheries officers based in the popular tourist town were advised of the incident by locals and rushed to the beach immediately.

ABC Kimberley reports the surfer is local youth worker Sam Heseltine, who told the broadcaster he did not realise what had happened until he got back to shore.

“I started paddling for a wave, and felt a large bump underneath me, enough to raise me up but not knock me off the board,” he said.

“The wave passed and I thought I’d bumped into my mate.”

Local musician Will Thomas posted a photo of the surfboard on Facebook before the officers took the surfboard and put it on a plane to Perth for further analysis by scientists.

Mr Thomas says the shark appears to have bitten down on the surfboard fin. Picture: Will Thomas/Facebook

“That doesn’t look like the bite of an animal a metre long … Thankful that Sam is OK,” he wrote.

“What do we do now ..?”

Based on the spacing of the teeth marks, Mr Thomas said he suspected the shark was a juvenile tiger, which “have a very square jawline”.

“The reason (I feel) the teeth seem so far apart is maybe … the shark had the fin too and it could only bite down so far therefore only leave small dents with the roof of the mouth hitting the fin,” he wrote.

“That would make it a big ass shark though.”

Fisheries officers are patrolling the shore and will continue on Thursday, but it is not possible to conduct water patrols due to the approach of a low-pressure system, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development says.

Police went to the beach but left after determining there was no emergency.

The attack comes two-and-a-half weeks after hotel worker Charles Cernobori, 59, was killed by a bull shark while bodyboarding about 30m from the shore at Cable Beach.

Charles Cernobori was fatally attacked by a bull shark off the popular Broome beach last month. His partner Sandra Howard (left) said she was left heartbroken. Picture: Facebook via NCA NewsWire

A couple who saw “thrashing” in the water had gone over to help the father of three and grandfather of four, pulling him out of the water and calling an ambulance. He was given CPR but could not be saved.

While there have been many fatal attacks by white pointers or great whites in WA waters, attacks by bull sharks are rare – even though they are an aggressive species.

A young boy was fatally attacked by a bull shark in a Perth estuary in the 1920s.

Mr Cernobori’s death was even more unusual in that it was the first fatal shark attack in Broome in more than 25 years.

Fisheries Minister Peter Tinley said it was “disturbing” to have “two in a place where we haven’t had one in nearly 30 years”.

Mr Tinley said police and Fisheries officers interviewed the man to find out more about what happened.

“It’s a patrolled beach in the most populous area but it’s a very long beach so that particular area isn’t patrolled,” he told reporters.

Police shot at a shark suspected of being behind last month’s fatal attack at Broome’s Cable Beach. Picture: ABC

“We’ll take advice from Surf Life Saving, who are the main providers of the safety of the beach, and the local authority, who are responsible for the management of the beach.

“Once I get more information I’ll be able to make more of a comment and make decisions from there.

“We’ll piece it all together, hopefully recover the board and make an assessment from there.”

After Mr Cernobori was attacked, police legally shot at the bull shark, which remained in the area for about 30 minutes before swimming away.

Asked if the shark in the latest incident would be hunted, Mr Tinley said “that’s a very difficult proposition”.

“There’s no guarantees that if you go looking for a particular shark that you’re going to even find it … this is more about mitigating the risk through a layered defence,” he said.

Encounters with highly aggressive saltwater crocodiles are more common in the area and there was outrage on social media in January last year when a large one was killed by authorities on Cable Beach after attempts to remove it failed.

Separately, entering the water is being prohibited until January 7 within a 1km radius of Boullanger Island — just off another popular tourist destination, Jurien Bay — due to a decomposing whale carcass that could cause sharks to come close to shore.

Originally published as Surfer narrowly escapes injury in shark attack off Broome, WA