Add Category
Updated
The wife of fatal shark attack victim Gary Johnson has emotionally embraced police and rescue volunteers in the West Australian seaside town of Esperance as the search for her husband's body doubled in capacity.
Key points:
- The search for diver Gary Johnson's body is in its third day off the Esperance coast
- Mr Johnson and his wife had just entered the water when the shark attacked him
- A second remote operated vehicle has joined the search inside an exclusion zone
Karen Milligan was diving alongside Mr Johnson, 57, about 7 kilometres from Esperance on Sunday afternoon when he was attacked by what was believed to be a great white shark.
The couple had just entered the water off their boat near Cull Island and had descended to a depth of about 7 metres when he was attacked.
Ms Milligan managed to get away and raise the alarm, triggering the search for his body.
She was admitted to hospital suffering from shock, but today she returned with family members to Esperance's Taylor Street jetty to thank the search team in person.
"The family are going through a hell of a lot, they're going through a great degree of trauma," Senior Sergeant Justin Tarasinski said.
"We've obviously got the blue shirt on but that doesn't protect us from emotions. So yeah, it was rough."
Senior Sergeant Tarasinski, the officer-in-charge of Esperance Police Station, said the family had come to terms with the possibility that Mr Johnson's body may never be found.
"They have, but obviously we make every attempt possible to be able to find him and bring them that closure," he said.
Second underwater vehicle also looking for body
Specialist police divers were in Esperance last week searching for a man who had been washed off rocks, but that team was flying back to Perth when the shark attacked.
The flight was diverted back to Esperance so they could join the search for Mr Johnson.
Shark activity has made it too dangerous for divers to actively look underwater for the body, but they are on standby for retrieval operations.
Yesterday Mr Johnson's scuba tank and dive vest were recovered.
In place of the divers, the Department of Fisheries has been using a remote operated vehicle (ROV) to search the ocean floor.
An ROV is an unmanned device fitted with a number of cameras.
A second ROV has now been deployed to Esperance, doubling the search team's capabilities.
Difficult terrain on sea floor hampers search
Yesterday Ms Milligan's stepdaughter delivered and emotional statement on behalf of her mother.
Sergeant Tarasinski said although conditions in the search for Mr Johnson were favourable today, underwater visibility was limited, especially at depths of up to 30 metres.
"It's particularly difficult because of the terrain under the water … there's lots of crevices, ledges, caves, all in that area," he said.
Fisheries support vessels are enforcing a one-nautical-mile exclusion zone around the search area throughout the day.
Some locals scared but others unperturbed
Elsewhere in Esperance, people have returned to the stunning beaches around the town with mixed views on their safety and sharks in the area.
Ocean swimmer Pamela Kerr, who has lived in Esperance for more than 30 years, spent the morning at popular Twilight Beach.
"I'm always nervous in the water," she said.
"I just think that's swimming in the ocean, isn't it. I mean I'm against shark culling or anything like that, I just think it's risk you take."
Esperance local Kacey Harland, 23, said the latest shark attack was likely to have caused some to think twice about entering the water.
"I don't really surf or anything like that so I don't go out too deep, but for my family and stuff, people who go out there and surf, it's pretty scary," she said.
But 13-year-old surfer Ben Brierly said he was undeterred by the attack.
"It doesn't really worry me, I don't worry about it that much. Just having fun surfing," he said.
"Everyone that surfs has it in the back of their heads sometimes, but I love surfing so [I'm] not going to get out of there."
Topics: shark, animal-attacks, police, emergency-incidents, esperance-6450, perth-6000, wa
First posted