Perth beaches close after fatal shark attack on swimmer at Sorrento Beach

Fatal attack off Sorrento Beach

Authorities in Western Australia launched search and emergency operations on Friday, 18 September 2026, after a swimmer was killed by a shark at Sorrento Beach in northern Perth. Emergency services received initial distress calls at 10:15 local time reporting that a man had been attacked roughly 50 metres from the shoreline. The victim, identified as 63-year-old swimmer Greg O'Neil, was swimming alongside a companion who managed to escape unharmed onto the sand. Maritime police officers, aerial rescue crews, and local lifeguards deployed immediately to search the water as beachgoers watched from the shore.

“We received a report that a swimmer had been bitten by a shark while swimming along the coast. The swimmer died as a result of this attack.”

Emergency response and kill order

The Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development dispatched search vessels alongside the RAC rescue helicopter and state police maritime units. Following the incident, state authorities issued a rare catch-and-kill order targeting a great white shark detected near the coastline. The state monitoring service Shark Smart logged an initial sighting of an unidentified 2.5-metre shark 50 metres from shore at 10:22 local time. A second sighting recorded at 12:49 reported a five-metre great white shark swimming in the same area. The City of Joondalup closed beaches across a 12-kilometre stretch between Marmion and Iluka, with regional closures extending across 30 kilometres of coastline until Sunday.

Eyewitness accounts from the beach

Dozens of people were present on Sorrento Beach when the attack occurred on Friday morning. Beachgoers watched the disturbance in the water from the sand and alerted authorities as the two swimmers attempted to return to land. Jacqui Rapaic, who was walking along the beach when the incident took place, described the scene after looking out towards the water. Another bystander reported seeing the victim pulled underwater rapidly roughly 50 metres offshore. Surf Life Saving Western Australia confirmed an unidentified shark species was involved in the encounter before lifeguards cleared the water.

“My friend said to me that she thought there had been a shark attack. I looked towards the ocean and saw a pool of blood.”

Series of shark encounters across Australia

The Sorrento Beach fatality is the fifth fatal shark attack recorded in Australia in 2026, and the third fatal encounter in Western Australia during the year. The incident occurred four days after surfer Mel Ismail suffered serious leg injuries and lost a foot in a shark bite at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth. Earlier fatal incidents in 2026 include a 12-year-old boy killed by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour in January, a 38-year-old man killed off an island near Perth in May, and a 35-year-old man killed while spearfishing off the southern coast of Western Australia in June. Non-fatal encounters in 2026 include a woman in Sydney who underwent a partial arm amputation in June after being bitten on a public beach. Historical incident records indicate approximately 1,300 human-shark encounters in Australia since 1791, with more than 260 resulting in deaths.

1. 2026-01A 12-year-old boy dies following a bull shark bite in Sydney Harbour
2. 2026-05A 38-year-old man is killed off an island near Perth
3. 2026-06A 35-year-old man is killed spearfishing off the south coast of Western Australia
4. Sep 14, 2026Surfer Mel Ismail is injured in a shark encounter at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton
5. Sep 18, 2026Swimmer Greg O'Neil is killed in a shark attack off Sorrento Beach in Perth