Teen Surfer Killed by a 'Really Big Great White'

A teen surfer died Saturday after a suspected shark attack left him with severe leg injuries, Australia's News Network reports. Seems 15-year-old Mani Hart-Deville was surfing in New South Wales, Australia, when the shark bit him and other surfers dragged the wounded boy to shore on Wooli Beach. "First aid was rendered for serious injuries to his legs and despite CPR efforts to revive him, the 15-year-old died at the scene," police say. Local resident Helen Dobra says she talked to a surfer who said "a really big great white" bit Hart-Deville, who "was screaming" to get out of the water when "the shark came in again for another attack," per the Sydney Morning Herald. "He said another surfer bravely went and tried to get the shark off and then they pulled [the boy] out of the water."

Now friends and family are grieving the loss of a boy remembered as "gentle" and "so caring." Young people were filmed hugging each other on the beach as social media tributes emerged calling him "wonderful" and "warm-hearted," with one writing, "Hope heaven is good to you. We will miss you more than you’ll ever know." His death comes only a week after a shark killed a 36-year-old man who was spearfishing near Fraser Island in Queensland; CNN reports that a 60-year-old surfer was killed at Salt Beach near Kingscliff in June. A local charter owner says great whites are common in the area where Hart-Deville died: "I've done a lot of spearfishing and there's a lot of sharks, a lot of great whites come through," he said. (More shark attack stories.)