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A surfer who died after a shark attack at Greenmount Beach yesterday afternoon has been named as Nick Slater, with beaches on the southern Gold Coast closed for the day.
Four surfers brought Mr Slater to shore where lifeguards and beachgoers tried to save the 46-year-old, but he died from his leg injury.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk later described the actions of surfer Jade Parker and the others who helped Mr Slater as heroic.
There were dozens of surfers in the water but Mr Parker said most were oblivious to what was happening. He said when they got to the beach he noticed Mr Slater’s surfboard had a bite mark on it.
Lifeguards are today patrolling the water via jet ski and the Westpac helicopter is in the air as beaches remain closed between Burleigh Heads and the New South Wales border.
It’s the first fatal shark attack on a Gold Coast beach since the shark net program was introduced in the 1960s, and comes just three months after Tugun surfer Rob Pedretti was attacked off the Tweed Coast.
Former surfing world champion Mark Occhilupo was in the water shortly before the attack.
“I heard the lifeguards calling everyone in,” he said. “I thought it just was a shark sighting and then 10 minutes later I turned the news on and saw that it was an attack. I saw the footage too. It looked like it was a big shark. I see the odd shark sometimes at the top of Snapper, but never right inside the bay where it happened. Very rare. One of those once-in-a-blue-moon things. It is really sad.”