Mum's headless torso only thing remaining as she was bitten in half by great white shark while paddling

Mum's headless torso only thing remaining as she was bitten in half by great white shark while paddling WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT A rogue shark sent an Australian town into a frenzied hunt after a mother-of-four was slaughtered in seconds. A mother was brutally torn apart by a 20-foot-long shark with her torso ripped clean off, in what is widely recognised as one of the most gruesome shark attacks in history. Shirley Ann Durdin was shredded to pieces in a moment of frenzy from a Great White shark in 1985 when the 33-year-old was paddling around, diving for scallops in South Australia , as per History Hit. The only thing that could be retrieved of her body was a floating, headless torso. The clear, peaceful water of Peake Bay remains a popular tourist destination. But on this fateful March Sunday, chaos lurked in its waters at Wiseman’s beach. Estimated to be up to 20 feet long by some eye-witness reports, the mammoth beast tore the Port Lincoln mother-of-four in half as her husband and children watched helplessly from the beach. Tragically her husband's only words were a shout from the shore: “She’s gone, she’s gone.” Her children, Jason, Tanya, Carla, and Sonya, all under the age of twelve, and her husband watched on helplessly from the beach. A hunt was launched for the shark, Lincoln Times reported at the time of the crime. The Port Lincoln Game Fishing Club, assisted by abalone divers, mounted a huge search for the killer shark and a net placed in the area was found bitten in two. Fish bait was scattered in the Bolingbroke area to try to lure the shark out of the water. A warning was issued to the public telling them not to swim in the general area. A meeting in Port Lincoln of Game Fishing Club, Port Lincoln Diving Club, abalone divers and concerned Tumby Bay citizens decided that the shark must be destroyed. A Diving Club spokesman, Peter Hurrell, said it was believed the shark which killed Shirley was either injured or very old. "(Shark experts) say sharks are not partial to human blood so the shark must be too slow to catch its normal food," he said. He added: "The shark has been called a rogue and must be destroyed. An attack could happen again." Port Lincoln Police patrolled Wiseman's Beach after the attack. Divers were sent into the depth of the ocean but found nothing. Rough seas hampered the search for the beast at first after the Fisheries Department's 8.2 metre Shark Cat patrol boat failed to find it after a three and a half hour search. Then the local State Emergency Service personnel, and police, searched the Peake Bay area in the SES rescue boat. Senior sergeant Gerhardy said police did not have any reports of sharks being in the Peake Bay area before the attack. A memorial service for Shirley was held at the Port Lincoln Uniting Church.

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