A BRITISH swimmer was mauled to death by a 15ft great white shark in an “incredibly rare” attack as he trained for a charity ocean swim.
Simon Nellist, 35, was killed by the predator just 150m away from the beach at Buchan Point, near Little Bay in Sydney, in the first fatal attack in nearly 60 years.
In the hours after the attack, body parts were retrieved from the water, and search teams dropped green dye in the ocean in order to determine which way the currents were moving, in a bid to find more remains.
Based on footage supplied by a member of the public, government experts have estimated the shark to be a great white at least three metres (10 feet) in length.
Nellist was a 35-year-old diving instructor who is understood to be a British expat who was about to marry in Sydney.
One of the swimmer’s heartbroken friends, Della Ross, told Seven News: “Everything that is connected to Simon is connected to the ocean.
“The news hit us like a truck because he was one of the people who make this earth lighter.
“He loved the water, he loved diving.”
The attack comes just three months after another Brit Paul Millachip was attacked and killed off the coast of Western Australia.
The 57-year-old was dragged underwater by a 14ft great white when he was killed in front of his horrified family.
Simon was a lover of the ocean spoke out against shark nets and drum lines, which he said indiscriminately “all kinds of marine life every year”.
Fisherman Kris Linto told Nine News: “Some guy was swimming and a shark came and attacked him vertically.
“We heard a yell and turned around it looked like a car had landed in the water, a big splash then the shark was chomping at the body and there was blood everywhere.
“It was really bad.”
