\n<\/p>\n
A swimmer has been killed in a shark attack at a beach in Perth, on the west coast of Australia, police have said.<\/b><\/p>\n
Emergency crews were called to a “shark-related incident” at Sorrento Beach at around 10.15 local time on Friday.<\/p>\n
Police said an extensive search of the area was carried out by authorities in helicopters and on boats but did not say whether a body had been found.<\/p>\n
One witness described seeing a man being pulled under the water by a shark, just 50 metres off the shore, while another said they saw a “pool of blood” in the water, according to local media.<\/p>\n
One witness told local outlet WAtoday that she saw the man being “mauled” as the shark “tossed him around like a fish”.<\/p>\n
“I’m a nurse, so I mean I obviously see a lot of gruesome stuff, but to see somebody being mauled to death in the water in front of me is pretty hard to clock,” she told WAtoday.<\/p>\n
“I only live just down the road, and I swim every day. I mean, there’s no way I’m going to be getting in that water again.”<\/p>\n
Another witness said she was walking along the beach with a friend when the attack happened.<\/p>\n
“I looked out to the ocean and I could see a pool of blood,” Jacqui Rapaic told national broadcaster ABC.<\/p>\n
She said she believed two people had been swimming, but only one had made it back to shore.<\/p>\n
Members of the public had reported seeing a 2.5-metre-long shark at around the same time.<\/p>\n
The beach remains closed to the public and authorities have asked the public to avoid the area. <\/p>\n
There have been multiple fatal shark attacks in Australia over the past year, including on a 12-year-old boy<\/a> in Sydney in January. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n