Shark kills man fishing in Australia's Great Barrier Reef

A shark has attacked and killed a 40-year-old pastor who was fishing with his family in the waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, officials and local media said.

The predator bit him on the neck on Saturday afternoon off Humpy Island on the country's east coast, emergency services said.

The victim was Luke Walford, a youth pastor at the Cathedral of Praise church in the central Queensland town of Rockhampton, according to local media including public broadcaster ABC.

"The man was fishing with family members when he was bitten by a shark," Queensland state police said in a statement.

He sustained "life-threatening injuries" and died about an hour-and-a-half afterwards, police said, adding that a report would be prepared for the coroner.

They were unable to confirm whether he was spearfishing at the time. Photos posted by Walford on social media in 2021 showed him aboard a boat in a wetsuit holding up large fish.

A Queensland ambulance spokeswoman told AFP on Sunday that he died at the scene after sustaining a "significant life-threatening wound to his neck".

Humpy Island, which lies in the Great Barrier Reef's Keppel Bay Islands National Park, has a popular camping ground that gives easy access to reefs for diving and snorkeling.

The country's last fatal shark attack was in December 2023, when what was believed to be a great white killed a 15-year-old boy at a remote surfing spot in South Australia.

There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents in Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death, according to a national database.

Most serious bites are from white sharks, bull sharks, and tiger sharks.