He went to surf in Australia’s shark-infested waters. Some bits of wetsuit and a chewed-up board were all they found

Simon Baccanello was attacked on Saturday off the coast of South Australia with as many as 16 nearby who witnessed him disappear

The last anyone saw of the 46-year-old teacher was his surfboard – with a large chunk bitten out of it – ‘trying to fight its way back to the surface’

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A great white shark. It’s not known what shark attacked Simon Baccanello, but a great white was behind Australia’s last fatal shark attack in February. Photo: New Zealand Herald

Published: 4:02pm, 15 May 2023Updated: 6:50pm, 15 May 2023

A surfer missing since being attacked by a shark off the southern coast of Australia at the weekend is “presumed dead”, police said on Monday, as a search turned up fragments of wetsuit-like material.

The surfer, identified by local media as 46-year-old teacher Simon Baccanello, was attacked on Saturday off Walkers Rock Beach, South Australia’s state police said in a statement. His damaged surfboard was found soon after.

Local State Emergency Service manager Trevlyn Smith told News Corp the surfboard had “one bite in the middle”.

Simon Baccanello, 46, was surfing near Elliston on South Australia’s west coast when he was attacked by a shark on Saturday and disappeared. Photo: Handout

Teams scouring the area for signs of the man on Sunday had located two “items of interest”, police said.

“One item appears to be a piece of wetsuit material, and the other items appear to be small pieces of white polystyrene [possible surfboard material],” they said in a statement.

Police said the fragments would be sent for forensic examination.

Teams will carry on searching beaches in the area after high tide “in the coming days”, police said, following consultations with the man’s family. Searchers say any remains are more likely to drift ashore rather than out to sea.