Aussies from a remote beach town have detailed the final tragic moments of a young surfer attacked by a shark as the search for his body continues.
Port Lincoln man Lance Appleby, 28, was attacked by the shark at Granites Beach, about 700km from Adelaide, just after 7pm on Thursday.
Family friend Jeff Schmucker has recalled the experienced surfer’s horrific final moments revealing he was dragged underwater by a Great White shark.
‘He caught a wave and flipped off the wave and proceeded to paddle back, and he was attacked,’ Mr Schmucker told 7NEWS.
A man on a jet ski raced out to assist Mr Appleby but could only find his board.
‘He confirmed that the board had a bite mark in the bottom and the rope was severed in half,’ Mr Schmucker said.
The local fisherman said the close-knit community had hit ‘so hard’ by the attack.
A fisherman alerted locals about an ‘aggressive’ Great White shark at Granite Beach on social media just hours before Mr Appleby was attacked.
Experienced surfer Lance Appleby, 28, (pictured) was attacked by a shark at Granites Beach about 700km from Adelaide just after 7pm on Thursday
Family friend Jeff Schmucker (pictured) said Mr Appleby caught a wave, flipped off and was attacked as he paddled back out at Granites Beach on Thursday
It is not known if Mr Appleby was aware of the warning.
Assistant Police Commissioner John De Candia on Friday confirmed a report would be prepared for the coroner as the search for Mr Appleby’s body continues.
‘It’s a very sad and tragic circumstance for the family,’ he told a press conference.
‘Any such incident such tragedy affects a wide variety of people… the immediate family, friends, work mates, colleagues, it affects the police (and) other emergency services that had to attend as well.
‘Any death is, in these circumstances, is absolutely tragic and does have a wide impact on lots of people.’
Locals are calling for the shark to be hunted down in lieu of Mr Appleby’s death.
‘If they want to do something about it, they should do it now,’ Mr Schmucker said.
‘Fisheries have the power to give a destruction order, but the government doesn’t have the balls.’
The desperate search for Mr Appleby’s body following a horrific shark attack continues
Mr Appleby was a keen surfer and played for the Marble Range Football Club.
He had travelled to Europe just several months before the attack and posted pictures to Facebook of his visits to London and Amsterdam.
The search for Mr Appleby follows the death of Tod Gendle, who was killed by a four-metre Great White shark while surfing at the same beach in October, 2023.
Mr Schmucker, who raced out on a jet ski to try to save the surfer, said he saw Mr Gendle being pulled underwater by the huge shark.
Mr Schmucker said he was attacked and circled several times by a ‘big female’ shark.
