The surfer reported missing near Granites Beach on the Eyre Peninsula west of Adelaide on Thursday has been identified as 28-year-old Lance Appleby.
Witnesses reported seeing Appleby being attacked by a shark about 7pm, triggering a search by police with SES and local volunteers.
His body is yet to be found and a search by air, land and sea resumed on Friday morning, South Australia Police said in a statement.
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The beach, which is an eight-hour drive from Adelaide, has been closed, and the public has been told to avoid the area.
A local is believed to have found Appleby’s surfboard while searching for the surfer on a jet ski.
A search by air, land and sea resumed on Friday morning. Credit: 7NEWS Only four hours before the alarm was raised, a local took to a South Australian West Coast shark alert Facebook forum to warn people about a great white.
“Large great white sighted acting aggressively near Granites, Streaky Bay,” they wrote.
Another local later took to the same Facebook group to mourn the surfer.
A local is believed to have found Appleby’s surfboard. Credit: 7NEWS “Dear community, there has been a devastating fatality at Granites, Streaky Bay. Our thoughts are with the family, friends and fellow surfers. It is a traumatising and sad time, please get around each other,” they wrote.
The man was surfing in the same area where 55-year-old Tod Gendle was killed in October 2023.
A 4.2 metre great white was spotted in the water just after he disappeared at the popular South Australian surfing spot.
-With AAP