An Australian surfer is presumed dead after a shark attack while his girlfriend and others watched on in horror, only weeks into the couple’s six-month-long dream vacation.

Missing surfer, Steven Jeffrey Payne, 37, from Melbourne, is presumed dead after crowds of witnesses saw him attacked by a shark on Monday. The remote beach near Esperance in the Western Australian coast was full of people yesterday as the tragedy unfolded.

A surfer has been reported missing after a suspected shark attack on a remote Australian beach.