A man, who was swimming today at Murawai beach near Auckland, was attacked by a shark and died in the water. The man lived at Murawai. He was married with a young family.
One fisherman, who was on rocks nearby, said he saw two sharks. Another fisherman thought there were 3 or 4 sharks. One shark expert said that it was possibly a Bronze Whaler shark because the Great White is usually alone. However, the police said it was a Great White. It was 4m long.
A police officer shot at the shark from a helicopter. Another officer shot from a rescue boat but the shark swam away. Beaches in that area are closed for the next 2 days. Surf Life Saving volunteers and police recovered the body of the man.
Shark attacks are very rare in New Zealand. Since records began in 1830s, 14 people have been killed by sharks in New Zealand. The last fatal attack was in 1976.
Vocabulary
• Surf Life Saving – people who rescue swimmers in the sea (Listen to January 8th 2013 to hear more about Surf Life Saving.)
• volunteer – not paid
• recovered – managed to find the body
• rare – not usual, almost never
• records – data e.g. in newspapers
• fatal – someone died