British father alerts beachgoers to great white shark after spotting with drone

The shark was spotted around 100 metres from swimmers

A British man helped save beachgoers in Australia after spotting a great white shark with his drone.

David Alphonso, originally from Northampton, saw the shark swimming close to the shoreline at a beach in Western Australia where hundreds of people were bathing.

“If I hadn’t have spotted it, it could have potentially been a danger of a shark attack if people are splashing in the water,” the 36-year-old told the BBC.

On 5 January, on a visit to Meelup Beach on the southwestern coast of Australia with his father and brother, Mr Alphonso was using his drone camera when he noticed the shark in the shallow water around 100 metres from swimmers.

“My first reaction when I saw it swimming in the direction of the packed beach was ‘Maybe this is a bit dangerous and I might have to get hold of the lifeguards,’” he said.

Mr Alphonso then notified lifeguards, who alerted a helicopter crew in order to determine whether the shark was a risk to safety. Alarms were then sounded to notify people of the shark, and swimmers were told to leave the water as quickly as possible.

Mr Alphonso, who has been living in Australia for the past eight years, told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo it was a “cool experience” to use his passion for photography and sea life to help the lifeguards and potentially save the lives of beachgoers.

Last year, a man nearly lost his arm during a shark attack off the Western Australian coast. The man was bitten by a shark while spearfishing offshore from Port Hedland in October.

Between 2011 and 2020 there were 161 unprovoked shark attacks on humans in Australia, 22 of which were fatal.