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A “devoted” father and grandfather-to-be was reportedly killed by a shark this week while swimming at a beach in Australia.
Greg O’Neill, 63, was swimming at Sorrento Beach in the northern suburbs of Perth in Western Australia on Friday when the attack happened in front of horrified beachgoers.
“I couldn’t believe there was that much blood (that had) come out of a human body,” Ryan Rowe, a resident who went to the beach soon after the attack, told The West Australian newspaper.
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A great white shark swims in a file photo. (Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
O’Neill’s death also prompted Australia’s fisheries minister, Jackie Jarvis, to make the rare call for a catch-and-kill of the great white, which is a protected species.
“In making that decision, I considered the exceptional circumstances of the attack, the hazard posed by the shark, and the potential recovery of coronial evidence,” she said.
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Police haven’t said if O’Neill’s remains have been found, but added they were confident the “swimmer died as a result of the attack.”
Police stand on Sorrento Beach in Perth, Australia on Friday after a suspected fatal shark attack. (Andrew O’Connor/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
Witness Darrel Haythornthwaite told Nine Network television that O’Neill was swimming with a friend when he was attacked.
“I was just shocked. I mean, I feel for his mate,” Haythornthwaite said. “He’s apologized and said ‘I didn’t save my mate’ … I said, ‘You couldn’t have done anything.'”
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O’Neill told ABC News Australia, “Our family is deeply shocked and devastated by the terrible tragedy that took the life of father, grandfather-to-be, brother, uncle, husband and friend, Greg James O’Neill.”
A police boat and helicopter patrol Sorrento Beach in Perth, Australia, on Friday after a suspected fatal shark attack. (Andrew O’Connor/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
“He was a generous, devoted family man that gave his children so much love, care and opportunity. Greg loved the ocean and was known as a passionate swimmer, sports lover, dedicated worker and an all round generous, witty guy,” the family added. “The kind thoughts and support from everyone who has reached out are deeply appreciated.”
A surfer also suffered a serious leg injury on Monday in a shark attack about 250 miles north of Perth.
O’Neill was the fifth fatal shark attack this year.
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Three spearfishing divers were killed between May and June in attacks and a 12-year-old boy was killed in Sydney Harbor in January.