SWIMMER DIES AFTER SHARK ATTACK AT PERTH BEACH

A male swimmer has died following a shark attack at Sorrento Beach in Perth's northern suburbs, Western Australia, police confirmed. Witnesses reported seeing blood in the water as a police boat and helicopter responded to the scene on Friday. Beach walker Jacqui Rapaic said a friend alerted her to the attack before she saw a pool of blood in the ocean. Local resident Ryan Rowe said he arrived at the beach shortly afterwards and was told by an onlooker that someone had been bitten by a shark. Rowe said he could not believe the amount of blood that had come from a human body. Authorities closed the beach to swimmers, and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said it was investigating the attack.

On Monday, a surfer sustained a serious leg wound in a separate shark attack near Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth. Friday's death was the fourth confirmed fatal shark attack recorded in Australia this year. Three spearfishing divers were killed by sharks off the Australian coast within a four-week period spanning May and June. In January, a boy died in hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour.

According to the Australian Shark Incident Database, a partnership involving the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Flinders University and the New South Wales state government, Australia has recorded an average of two to three fatal shark attacks a year since 2000. This year's total of four fatal attacks already exceeds that average. Police and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said their investigations into Friday's attack were ongoing. No further details about the swimmer have been released.