A swimmer killed in a shark attack in Australia has been named locally as a British man.
Friends said 35-year-old Simon Nellist “loved the water” and was an experienced diving instructor.
It is believed Mr Nellist was a British expatriate living in the Wolli Creek area of Sydney, and was engaged to be married.
New South Wales Police told the PA news agency the search for his remains would continue at sunrise on Friday.
Emergency services were called to Little Bay at around 4.35pm local time on Wednesday after reports a swimmer had been attacked by a shark.
Della Ross, the victim’s friend, was among those paying tribute.
She told broadcaster 7News: “Everything that is connected to Simon, to me is connected to the ocean.
“The news hit us like a truck because he is really one of the people that makes this earth better.”
Witness Kris Linto said the swimmer was in the water when the shark “came and attacked him vertically”.
He told Nine News TV: “We heard a yell and then turned around, it looked like a car just landed in the water, big splash.”
Lucky Phrachnanh, from New South Wales state ambulance, said the victim “suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the attack”, adding there was nothing paramedics could do when they arrived at the scene.
The incident is believed to be the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel