Simon Nellist: British Man Killed In Australia’s First Fatal Shark Attack In 60 Years In Sydney

A swimmer, who was killed Wednesday in a shark attack in Sydney, has been named locally as a British man. The person is Simon Nellist, a 35-year-old diving instructor.

A police boat patrols at the fatal shark attack site on little Bay in Sydney on February 17, 2022, as authorities deployed baited lines to try to catch a giant great white shark that devoured an ocean swimmer, the city's first such attack in decades. (Photo: Muhammad FAROOQ / AFP)

New Delhi: A swimmer, who was killed Wednesday in a shark attack in Sydney, has been named locally as a British man. The person who died in the first fatal shark attack at the city's beaches in nearly 60 years is Simon Nellist, a 35-year-old diving instructor.

A friend confirmed the name of the victim, according to a BBC report. The victim has not yet been formally identified by the police. 

After Wednesday's attack, swimmers were banned from the water, and most city beaches were shut. Australian authorities are still searching for the great white shark which had mauled Nellist, just off Little Bay in East Sydney, the BBC report said. 

Nellist was a member of the Scuba Diving Social Club and a regular swimmer at the beach, according to the report.

A United Kingdom (UK) foreign office spokesperson said that consular staff were in touch with New South Wales Police. "We are supporting the family of a British man and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time," the report quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Sydney has had nets and other deterrents in its waters for a long time, because of which shark attacks in the city are uncommon. 

In order to find the shark, surf lifesavers on jet skis patrolled a 25 kilometres stretch of water on Thursday, from Bondi in the city's east to Cronulla in the south, the report said.

Shark experts of the New South Wales state government had estimated the predator to be a great white shark "at least three metres" in length, according to the report. They made the estimate based on footage of the incident taken by a member of the public.

The attack was vicious and frenzied, as described by several passers-by who witnessed the scene.

One of the persons who witnessed the attack said it was "very, very upsetting", according to a report by ABC News.

Two hours after the attack, authorities managed to retrieve body parts from the water, according to the BBC report.

Simon Nellist Was An RAF Veteran

Nellist had served with the UK's Royal Air Force as an engineer,  according to media reports. After taking a holiday to Australia, he moved to the country. 

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the family insisted that Nellist would not want the animal which killed him to be destroyed. Nellist, attacked by the great white shark, had died just 500 feet from horrified beachgoers, the Daily Mail report said.

The first person to be killed by a shark in the area since the 1960s, Nellist, who grew up in Penzance, Cornwall, UK, served two tours in Afghanistan before settling in Australia, the report said. He was engaged to Jessie Ho, and was due to marry her this summer.

Jacqui Seager, Nellist's aunt, said that she doesn't think Simon would want the shark to be killed, according to the report. She said he "loved nature". 

Quoting her, the report said that he said swam with sharks before. "This isn't the first time he's gone out and seen them but he would still go out swimming. That's brave," the report quoted Seager as saying. 

Nellist's tragic death occurred weeks before 'smart' drum lines, an aquatic trap used to lure and capture large sharks, were reportedly due to be installed, the report said. The drum lines could have prevented the tragedy.

On Wednesday, February 16, Emergency crews were rushed to Little Bay in Sydney's east after witnesses reported seeing a swimmer being attacked by a shark off the rocks, according to an illustration included in the report. A nearby fisherman filmed the scene and said that the shark "exploded on the surface" before dragging the man's body out into the ocean.

According to experts, the shark which killed Nellist on his daily swim was at least 10 feet long, and might have mistaken his wetsuit for a seal, the report said.

Dr Chris Pepin-Neff, of Sydney University, said that such shark attacks were incredibly rare, with just 10 or 12 of its kind in 30 years around the world.

Describing the diving community’s devastation, Nellist’s friend, Della Ross said that everything that is connected to Simon is connected to the ocean, according to the report.