Diver mauled to death by shark in Australia

Rex

A shark is being hunted today after a man was mauled to death while diving with his brother off Stratham Beach, 15 miles south of Perth.

Father-of-two Peter Kurmann, 33, was diving from a boat in the early morning when the shark measuring around four metres attacked him. His brother Gian escaped uninjured and brought his body back to shore, where experts said that the suspect appeared to be a great white shark.

Regional manager at the Department of Fisheries Tony Cappelluti told the Australian Associated Press that Gian Kurmann reported seeing 'a four-metre, dark, shark-like shape' in the water but couldn't identify it.

'We are not speculating about the species at all,' Cappelluti said.

According to Australia's Daily Telegraph, Mr Cappelluti said a fisheries vessel with shark capture equipment was being sent to the scene and an aerial surveillance team had sighted what might have been a shark in the area.

In a statement Gian Kurmann said: 'Today our family has suffered a terrible loss. We have lost a son, a brother, a husband and a wonderful father.

'Words cannot express how we feel at this time, we are in mourning and wish you to respect our privacy.'

The attack was the fourth fatal shark attack in Western Australia since September.

Beaches north and south of the town of Busselton were closed and divers have been warned to stay out of the area, which is a popular spot for its reef and crayfish.

After three men were killed off its coast in two months, Western Australia was rated the deadliest place in the world for fatal shark attacks.

21-year-old Kyle Burden was killed last September while bodyboarding near Bunker Bay, south of Perth. Then in October Bryn Martin, 64, was mauled to death by a great white shark while swimming at Perth's Cottesloe Beach. The same month Texan George Wainwright, 32, lost his life when he was savaged by a great white shark while diving off Rotnest Island, near Perth.

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