A shark has killed a teenage boy at a popular tourist hotspot in South Australia.
His body was recovered from the water near Ethel Beach, about a 180-mile drive from Adelaide, on December 28, according to reports.
Police were notified of a shark attack in the Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, on the Yorke Peninsula, at about 1:30 p.m.
Initially, reports were that a person had been "seriously injured." Later, police confirmed that the boy had died.
"Sadly, the body of a teenage boy was recovered from the water," a statement from the police read.
There is currently no other information available but police are preparing a report and investigation into the incident.
While fatal shark attacks are rare, this is the third to take place in the region this year.
The type of shark responsible for the attack has not been specified, but Australia is home to several dangerous species, including the great white shark.
Summer is currently in full swing in Australia, meaning more people are out in the water. Attacks are more likely when sharks are actively hunting in the area.
Ethel Beach has been sectioned off to the public since the attack. The area draws a lot of visitors in the warm, summer months.
A local surfer, Marty Goody, told ABC Australia that the boy could not have been very far from the shore at the time of the attack.
"It was a beautiful day, there were a lot of people swimming and that down there and the surf was very small, so they wouldn't have been very far off the shore," he told the news outlet. "It's the most open part to the open ocean, because when you come up the gulf you've got Kangaroo Island that stops all the swell from coming in, so that's the main area that gets the swell."
Goody added that he was concerned that the amount of sharks in the area was increasing.
"I've been surfing down here for 40 years and there's always been sharks and you've always known there's sharks there but there does seem to be a lot more of them now," he told ABC.
According to the International Shark Attack File, there have been 42 unprovoked shark attacks in South Australia since records began.
Most shark attacks occur in New South Wales, which has recorded around 271 unprovoked attacks. The region is home to the famous Bondi beach, near Sydney.
Sharks do not hunt humans, meaning that attacks are often a result of mistaken identity.
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Update 12/28/23 5:08 a.m. and 6.04 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
