Great White Shark 'Brutus' Tears Surfer in Half, Takes Body Under

A great white shark nick-named 'Brutus' by surfers who had observed him lurking along Australia’s west coast, near Perth, attacked a man, literally biting him in half Saturday. 

Benjamin Linden, 24, was surfing about 100 yards offshore the behemoth great white attacked around 9 a.m. local time, the Australian News reported. His remains were not recovered. 

• Related link: Divers have close encounter with great white shark in Australia

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Australian diver says partly swallowed by shark

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Jet skier Matt Holmes who was riding a jet ski near the scene said he tried to rescue Linden. Holmes described the beast as a “massive, massive white shark circling the body" and ”blood everywhere.”

“By the time I got out there half of him had been taken and the shark was circling,” Holmes said, according to the newspaper.

Tony Cappelluti, spokesman for the shark response unit for Australia’s Fisheries Department, said a boat is grid-searching the area with orders to capture and kill the shark.

Some argue that the shark was in his own territory and the surfer knew the shark was there. The risk was his own, and I certainly have to agree. 

Linden’s girlfriend, Alana Noakes, notified friends and family of the tragedy in a Facebook post.
“I’m devastated to let everyone know that my beautiful man, Ben Linden, was the surfer who was taken by the shark at Wedge Point this morning,” she wrote. “He was the love of my life, my best friend, my rock and my soulmate.” 

What a way to find out that your loved one has been killed. By a shark. Of all things.

According to reports, other surfers had noticed a large shark in the vicinity in the previous few days, nicknaming it “Brutus” because of its size.

Linden is the fifth person to be killed off Western Australia’s southwest coast in less than a year.