U.S. diver killed by shark in W. Australia

PERTH, Australia, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A great white shark attacked and killed a U.S. diver off the coast of Western Australia, police said Saturday.

The unidentified 32-year-old victim was diving a quarter mile off Rottnest Island when two friends on a boat witnessed the attack, Perth Now reported.

The pair told police there was a "flurry of bubbles," suggesting the diver's breathing hose had been severed. Minutes later, the man's body surfaced with "obvious traumatic fatal injuries,'' the report said.

The couple on the boat told police they saw a 10-foot great white shark.

It marks the third fatal shark attack in Western Australia in the past seven weeks, the News.com.Au Web site said.

That prompted Fisheries Minister Norman Moore to issue an unprecedented "trap and kill" directive to fishermen and boaters, the reports said.

Department of Fisheries regional manager Tony Cappelluti said two government ships were dispatched to the area.

"The intention is for us to set some gear at the site of the attack and see if we can capture the shark," he said. "The decision has been made that if we capture the shark, we will kill it."