Pastor Luke Walford dies in shark assault on Australia’s Nice Barrier Reef

A 40-year-old man has died after being attacked by a shark on the sting of Australia’s Nice Barrier Reef, native police mentioned.

Luke Walford, a youth pastor, had been spearfishing along with his household when he was bitten on Saturday afternoon.

He sustained “life-threatening accidents” and regardless of paramedics’ efforts, he died on the scene about an hour later, authorities mentioned.

He and his household had been within the water at Humpy Island, within the Nice Barrier Reef’s Keppel Bay Islands Nationwide Park, when the assault occurred. The world is a well-liked spot for diving and snorkelling.

Walford had been a faculty chaplain and pastor on the Cathedral of Reward church in Rockhampton, Queensland.

Donna Kirkland, his native MP, mentioned she was in shock, and that Walford was a buddy to her and “numerous others.”

“My prayers and heartfelt condolences are along with his stunning household and certainly the numerous who might be devastated, as I’m, at this information”, she added.

A household buddy advised ABC Information he had watched the rescue helicopter fly over his home, unaware it was for his buddy.

“I all the time say a bit of tribute for whoever it could be, however to search out out it was Luke was a really unhappy day,” Doug Webber mentioned.

Queensland police mentioned a report can be ready for the coroner.

Australia’s final deadly shark assault occurred in December 2023, when a teenage boy was killed within the south.

Simply this yr, there have been 4 different shark incidents in Australia, in keeping with a neighborhood database.

Typically, Australia sees extra shark assaults than some other nation besides the US.