Sorrento shark attack: Northern beaches remain closed after fatal great white attack

Beaches across Perth’s northern suburbs remain closed on Saturday morning after a man was killed by a shark just metres from shore at Sorrento Beach.

All beaches in the City of Joondalup, from Marmion to Iluka, will remain shut until at least midday while authorities reassess the situation.

The man, aged in his 60s, was swimming with a friend about 15m offshore when he was attacked about 10.15am on Friday.

The shark is believed to have been a large great white, with reports suggesting it could have been about 5m long.

The man was killed in the attack but it remains unclear whether all of his remains had been recovered.

Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis has ordered the shark believed to be responsible to be destroyed.

Patrols are expected to resume on Saturday if weather conditions allow, although the water remains choppy.

The attack has left locals traumatised, with witnesses describing the horror of seeing blood spread through the water.

Local Ryan Rowe arrived at the beach shortly after the attack and was told by a witness that a swimmer had been bitten.

“A lady came running out of the water saying that someone had been bitten by a shark,” he said.

“He walked over to have a look on the back of the groyne and he said that by then there was blood everywhere.

“Basically the shark grabbed him again, pulled him back down and then it went out a bit further.”

Mr Rowe said the scale of the blood in the water was confronting.

“I couldn’t believe there was that much blood come out of a human body,” he said.

“We’re always sort of in and out of the water and stuff like that — it’s so close to home.”

Tradesman Daniel Saligari was working on a nearby construction site when he looked out towards the beach.

“I looked out of the balcony and there was a pool of blood that had risen in the water,” he said.

“When I saw that, I already knew what was happening and then a bunch of people started crowding around and helicopters started showing up.”

The victim had ridden his bike to the beach with a friend to go boogie boarding.

The friend managed to get back to shore after the attack, appearing uninjured.

Members of the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club later cut the victim’s bike free from its lock and removed it from the beach.

The attack has also reignited concerns about shark safety at Sorrento, where a shark enclosure was removed in 2020 after struggling with the conditions.

Local resident Richard Lailey, who lives about 800m from the beach, said he had been involved in a frightening encounter with a great white at the same spot about a year ago.

“About a year ago to this day, I was one of a group of four kayakers down here that was circled by a great white shark for about 10 minutes,” he said.

“I think that the fact of the matter is, this happened a year ago, almost today, this is obviously the danger time.”

The fatal attack came just days after shark patrols resumed on Perth beaches for the weekend, with daily patrols not due to begin until September 26.

The City of Joondalup closure covers almost 12km of coastline from Marmion to Iluka and will be reassessed at midday on Saturday.