Spearfisher killed in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in 4 weeks

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A spearfisher was killed on Saturday in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in four weeks, police said.

The 35-year-old man was spearfishing with family off Michaelmas Island near the port city of Albany in Western Australia state when he was attacked before noon, a police statement said.

The man was brought by boat to Albany where paramedics were waiting but he could not be revived, police said. Authorities suspect a 4.5-meter (15-foot) white shark was responsible.

The spate of three fatalities is extraordinary in a nation that has averaged around three shark deaths a year in recent decades.

The last fatality was on May 24 when 39-year-old spearfisher Michael Jensz suffered unsurvivable head injuries in an attack on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s northeast coast. Bull sharks had been seen in the vicinity .

A week earlier, on May 16, a four-meter (13-foot) white shark fatally mauled 38-year-old spearfisher Steve Mattabonni northwest of Albany near Rottnest Island.

Australia’s only other fatal shark attack this year occurred in January, when a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor.