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WA Shark Attack Victim Dies In Hospital

Surfer Ben Gerring has passed away after being mauled on Tuesday.
Ben Gerring has died after being bitten by a shark.
Fairfax
Ben Gerring has died after being bitten by a shark.

A man whose leg was bitten off by a shark at a West Australian beach on Tuesday has died in hospital overnight.

Ben Gerring, 29, was mauled while surfing at a surf spot called Gearies, off the suburb of Falcon south of Perth on Tuesday afternoon, with the shark severing his leg above the knee.

The fly-in fly-out worker incredibly managed to get back on his broken board after the attack and was desperately trying to paddle in before he passed out.

He was helped to shore by fellow surfers, and had been listed as critically injured in Royal Perth Hospital since the horrifying incident.

Media outlets reported on Saturday morning that Gerring had passed away at the hospital.

The sad news comes after a big hunt was launched to catch the shark that carried out the attack. A great white shark caught on a baited drum line at Falcon Beach was killed a day after the vicious assault.

The West Australian reported this week that nearby surfers first thought it was a prank when Gerring slipped off his surfboard and into the water, but then realised the danger was real when he came back up screaming.

"I heard the cries of pain and 'help me' and then I knew something had happened and someone had been taken," Gerring's friend and fellow surfer Sheldon Spencer told the newspaper.

In the wake of the incident a fund was set up to help raise money for the stricken surfer.

His family previously praised all those involved in rescuing and helping their loved one, who had recently found out he was to become a father.

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