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Surfer on Dream Vacation Fatally Mauled by Shark

The Melbourne man was enjoying a six-month adventure with his partner and their dog.

A dream vacation ended in tragedy for an Australian surfer mauled to death by a shark in Western Australia. Steven Payne, a 37-year-old from Melbourne, was four or five weeks into a six-month vacation with his partner and their dog when he went surfing at the remote Wharton Beach, about an hour from Esperance. The fatal attack occurred on Monday, but authorities have yet to recover Payne’s remains, The Guardian reported. A witness captured drone footage of a shark swimming away from a cloud of blood near the beach and a surfboard with bite marks was found. “Our search is a recovery, not a rescue,” Senior Sgt. Christopher Taylor told reporters. Payne’s family is grappling with the loss, and the Esperance community is also in mourning. “The whole community of Esperance feels the pain,” Taylor said, noting that the area, some 500 miles south of Perth, has now experienced four shark-related fatalities since 2017.

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