A scuba diver has been killed by white shark off the coast of Perth, Australia.
Doreen Collyer, 60, was diving with a friend about 1km off the northern Perth suburb of Mindarie between One and Three-Mile Reef on Sunday. Around noon, she was bitten by a shark.
Her 43-year-old dive buddy felt something go past him and turned around to look. Although he did not see the shark, he decided it would best to surface. Upon surfacing he noticed a commotion in the water.
Three men heading out to fish saw the shark and helped the man onto their boat. According to Western Australia police inspector Danny Mulligan at that time “it was noticed that the lady had suffered some severe and fatal injuries.”
The man was then transferred to his own boat. The fishermen then positioned themselves between the shark, which they said was bigger than their 18 ft (5.5m) boat, and the man’s boat, while he pulled in his injured diving partner.
The British grandmother was taken to the boat ramp in Mindarie. St John Ambulance personnel arrived on scene, along with police, and declared her deceased.
Mindarie beaches were closed after the incident. The Director General of the Department of Fisheries has issued an order to deploy drum lines in the vicinity of the incident.
Surf Life Saving Western Australia tweeted a report of a public sighting of a 15ft (4.5m) shark in Mindarie shortly before the incident occurred.
Due to the location of the incident and nature of the injuries the Department of Fisheries believe a great white shark larger than 10 feet (3m) is responsible.
The incident comes two days after shark attack bite victim Ben Gerring succumbed to his injuries. Mr. Gerring was bitten by a great white at Falcon Beach in Perth and was in a coma for several days before passing away on Friday.
There have been a total of 35 shark attack bites in 2016. Five of which were fatal, with 3 occurring in Australia. Eleven total in the US, with 9 occurring in Florida. All locations have been marked on the 2016 shark attack bites tracking map.
Update 6/06/16
Doreen Collyer’s husband, David, released the following statement:
“Doreen was a beautiful person and everyone loved her. She was a devoted grandmother, mother and loving wife.
“Doreen loved nursing, she was a passionate nurse and she was a fantastic teacher.
“She was a beautiful, wonderful person and she was very good at her job.
“She was loved by everybody and was very caring and loving. She was full of life and very active.
“She touched a lot of lives through her teaching and through her time working on the wards.
“I would like to express my sincere thanks to Doreen’s dive buddy, John, the three lads off the other boat, Whitfords Sea Rescue and the ambulance and police crews who did everything they could to try and help my wife and to avoid any further tragedy.’’
A GoFundMe page has been set up in Memory of Mrs. Collyer
