Shark attack feared in Western Australia
By Gabrielle Knowles, The West Australian, 10. October 2011Fisheries experts believe damage to the bathers of a missing swimmer is consistent to that a white pointer shark would cause.
A police diver found a pair of black Speedos belonging to 64-year old Bryn Martin who went missing off Cottesloe at this morning.
The diver found the bathers on the ocean floor about 3pm. The missing man’s wife has identified the Speedo’s as the pair Mr Martin was wearing.
Police have closed the beach until further notice.
There has been no shark sighting and police are continuing to search for Mr Martin.
Cottesloe Police Sen. Sgt Sergeant Denise Grant said Mr Martin, described as a strong swimmer, entered the water near Indiana restaurant just after 8am.
Sen. Sgt Grant said Mr Martin, from Mosman Park, was with a friend on the beach before he went in for his daily swim.
He went into the water to swim first because he was a stronger swimmer than his friend.
She said Mr Martin’s friend saw him swim out past to pylon and out to a buoy about 400-500 metres off-shore when he disappeared from view.
Water police and police divers searched for Mr Martin until sundown. Personnel from the nearby SAS barracks at Swanbourne helped with a land search on all-terrain vehicles in case he had made it to shore.
The search area stretched from Scarborough Beach to Leighton Beach.
“I believe the current is quite slow, but visibility is quite poor,” Sen. Sgt Grant said. “The water … cloudy so it’s quite difficult to see through.”
Sen. Sgt Grant said there had been no shark sightings.
She called on any regular morning swimmers who might know the man or any members of the public who may have seen someone disoriented to keep in contact with police.
Sen. Sgt Grant said that police and searchers had not given up hope but because there had been no sign of the man since about 8.10am, hopes of finding him alive were fading.
The search will resume tomorrow morning.
Source: The West Australian