Khai was ranked inside the top 150 under-18 surfers in the country (Picture: Facebook/Seaview Road Board Riders)
The 15-year-old boy killed in a shark attack in South Australia has been named as talented surfer Khai Cowley.
He was attacked by a suspected great white off a remote Ethel Beach on the Yorke Peninsula west of his hometown of Adelaide on Thursday.
The horror played out in front of his father, who had taken him there from their home in Seaford, four hours away.
He was brought to shore but emergency services were unable to revive him.
Khai was attacked by a suspected great whitee shark (Picture: Facebook)
One local told the Adelaide Advertiser: ‘The shark took his leg, and so another local guy ran out, jumped on his board and paddled out to help him.
‘The shark was circling them as the guy pulled the boy out of the water. There was a lot of blood.
‘He brought him to shore but I think it was too late by then.’
Khai was ranked inside the top 150 under-18 surfers in the country and had recently been named the ‘most outstanding grom performer’ by his local Seaview Road Board Riders surf club.
Writing on Facebook, the club said it was in a state of ‘disbelief and devastation’ following the teen’s death.
‘You will live on in our hearts and memories,’ a tribute added.
‘We will all miss you so much and will keep on shredding for you.’
Khai’s was the state’s third fatal shark attack in recent months (Picture: Facebook/Seaview Road Board Riders
It is the state’s third fatal shark attack in recent months.
Surfers died in shark attacks in remote parts of South Australia in May and October. Their bodies were never recovered.
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said there have been 11 fatal shark attacks in the state’s waters since 2000.
The fact that three of those fatalities occurred since May is ‘startling and is of concern’, he told Nine Network television Friday.
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Malinauskas said there was little the government could do to make beaches safer outside Adelaide, the state capital and its most populous city.
Outside the state, a 16-year-old girl killed by a bull shark in a river in the west coast city of Perth in February was the only other fatal shark attack in Australia during 2023.
Adelaide-based shark expert Andrew Fox said the increase in shark attacks in South Australia this year, including two non-fatal attacks, was difficult to explain.
He said overcast conditions like those at Ethel Beach on Thursday can embolden sharks to attack.
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