Third man killed by sharks on Australia's east coast in recent months
A shark has killed a man on Australia’s Gold Coast city tourist strip, the third fatal attack in Queensland in recent months.
The man was brought to shore by surfers at Greenmount Beach with critical injuries, Queensland state ambulance service spokesperson Darren Brown said.
Paramedics determined the man was already dead on the beach, Mr Brown said.
The man is believed to have been attacked while within an area of the coast protected by shark nets.
The Queensland government erected shark nets between Cairns and Gold Coast to protect 85 beaches in 1962.
Sharks are still able to access the shallow waters by swimming under and around the nets - which are suspended from floats and run parallel to the beaches.
Since the nets were put in place there has only been one other fatal attack by a shark in the protected area.
No details were immediately available about which species of shark was responsible for the attack.
Australia’s last fatal shark attack was north of the Gold Coast near Fraser Island - an area not protected by the nets - on July 4.
A 36-year-old spear fisherman died hours after he was bitten on a leg.
A 60-year-old surfer was killed by a three-metre great white shark at an unprotected beach south of the Gold Coast near Kingscliff on June 7.
An inquiry by the Australian Senate in 2017 found that Queensland shark nets create more harm than good.
The Senate committee said nets give beachgoers a false sense of security while entangling and killing protected marine species including whales and turtles.