--- description: Authorities are searching for a shark that killed a 17-year-old on Monday off of Cheynes Beach in Western Australia. title: Australia Hunts for Killer Great White With a Spear in Its Throat image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Australia](/tag/australia/) ## Australia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Australia Hunts for Killer Great White With a Spear in Its Throat  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2014 3:10 PM CUT  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2014 3:10 PM CUT Authorities are [searching for a shark](http://news.yahoo.com/australian-teen-killed-shark-attack-234947519.html "undefined") that killed a 17-year-old on Monday off Cheynes Beach in Western Australia. Jay Muscat, 17, died after he was bitten in the leg while spearfishing, the second deadly shark attack in Australia in two weeks, the Associated Press reports. A friend who was spearfishing with him says he managed to fire a spear at the shark. “The shark turned and came for me, I pushed the speargun down its throat and fired the gun!,” he wrote on Facebook, [according](http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-australia-hunts-for-killer-shark-with-spear-in-throat-2014-12 "undefined") to the AFP. “This is something no one should ever have to see.” A spokesman for the state fisheries department, Carlo Vittiglia, told the AP that the shark is believed to be a great white up to 16-feet long. In recent years, there have been an average of two deadly shark attacks a year in Australia. \[[_AP_](http://news.yahoo.com/australian-teen-killed-shark-attack-234947519.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3649464/australia-killer-great-white/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3649464/australia-killer-great-white/"},"headline":"Australia Hunts for Killer Great White With a Spear in Its Throat","datePublished":"2014-12-30T15:10:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:11:04.247Z","description":"The victim’s friend says he managed to fire a spear at the shark.","url":"https://time.com/3649464/australia-killer-great-white/","keywords":["Australia","Sharks","Environment","animals","shark attack"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/australia/","name":"Australia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3649464/australia-killer-great-white/","name":"Australia Hunts for Killer Great White With a Spear in Its Throat"}}]}] ```