Pieces of wetsuit, surfboard found after shark attack in South Australia
Australian police say 'items of interest' have begun washing ashore
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Remnants of what appeared to be a wetsuit and surfboard were found off the coast of South Australia Monday after 46-year Simon Baccanello was attacked while surfing over the weekend.
Baccanello is still missing after he was attacked by a shark near his home at Elliston, in what could be the first fatal shark attack in Australia since February.
His board was found damaged with "one bite in the middle," local State Emergency Service manager Trevlyn Smith told News Corp.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A warning sign is seen at Bondi Beach in Sydney Feb. 17, 2022. More than a dozen of popular surf beaches in Sydney were closed on Thursday, following the first fatal shark attack in the harbor city's waters in almost 60 years. (Photo by Bai Xuefei/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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Fellow surfers witnessed the attack with one man describing how he "saw his board tombstoning."
Which meant that "he's underwater and his board’s getting dragged under…[while he was] trying to fight his way back to the surface," Jaiden Millar, who was one of dozens in the water at the time of the attack, explained.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescuers search for the body of a surfer presumed dead following a shark attack Saturday off the coast of South Australia. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Reuters) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Reuters)
South Australia Police officers said Sunday that "items of interest" had begun washing ashore near Walkers Rock where the attack took place as authorities continue their search.
A fisheries boat patrols the site of a fatal shark attack off Little Bay Beach in Sydney on Feb. 17, 2022, as authorities deployed baited lines to try to catch a giant great white shark that devoured an ocean swimmer, the city's first such attack in decades. (MUHAMMAD FAROOQ/AFP via Getty Images)
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"One item appears to be a piece of wetsuit material and the other items appear to be small pieces of white polystyrene (possible surfboard material)," the police said in a statement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The evidence found will be sent for forensic analysis to help with the investigation.
The police will continue their search in consultation with the Baccanello family in the area surrounding Walkers Rock after high tide.
Officials said that any remains are more likely to drift ashore rather than out to sea.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Great White Shark swims approximately 50 meters off the coast of the Cape Cod National Sea Shore in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on July 15, 2022. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
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The attack Saturday is likely the first fatal shark attack since a 16-year-old swimmer was killed in February after jumping into a river in Perth in Western Australia by a suspected bull shark.
The February attack was the first fatal attack in a year after a swimmer was killed on Feb. 15 by a 15-foot great white shark off of a beach in Sydney.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.