Man dies in shark attack off Australia’s coast, second fatal incident in a week

2 min readMay 24, 2026 04:26 PM IST

A man died in a shark attack while diving off the coast at Queensland on Sunday, the second fatal shark attack in little over a week.

The 39-year-old Cairns resident was diving with three friends from a boat at Kennedy Shoal, south of Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef, when the shark attacked him, police said. He suffered a head injury and died before rescuers could bring him ashore.

Paramedics met the group at the tourist town of Hull Heads around noon after they brought the man back by boat. Queensland Ambulance Service said he had injuries “not compatible with life”.

Police said the man had been spearfishing (a form of fishing in which divers use a spear of a speargun to catch fish) at the time of the attack.

Second fatal shark attack in days

Kennedy Shoal is a coral reef site popular with recreational fishers and divers. Divers also visit the area for the wreck of the 19th-century ship Lady Bowen. Fishers had reported sightings of bull sharks in the area before Sunday’s attack.

This death comes days after another fatal attack off Western Australia. On May 16, 38-year-old Perth resident Steve Mattabonni died after a shark attacked him while he was spearfishing near Rottnest Island. Authorities suspected a five-metre white shark in that attack.

Australia has averaged more than three shark-related deaths a year, news agency AP reported. In January, 12-year-old Nico Antic died days after a suspected bull shark attacked him off a Sydney beach.

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