Manly shark attack victim identified as South Coast musician

A surfer mauled by a shark on the northern beaches in Sydney’s third attack in just over 24 hours has been identified as South Coast musician Andre de Ruyter.

De Ruyter, 27, was surfing at Manly’s North Steyne Beach just before 6.30pm on Monday when what is believed to have been a bull shark bit his right leg, causing severe lacerations. His lower right leg was amputated overnight at Royal North Shore hospital, where he remains in intensive care.

The attack on de Ruyter was the third in Sydney within 26 hours, and forced the closure of the northern beaches coastline.

De Ruyter and his sister, Alysha, regularly perform together on the NSW South Coast and on the northern beaches. The pair appeared at Wollongong music festival The Gong Crawl in November, according to their social media profiles.

In 2021, de Ruyter released a self-titled EP under his moniker, Brite Boy. The 27-year-old has been featured as an emerging talent by Triple J Unearthed, the same platform that discovered Missy Higgins, Flume and Vance Joy.

“His sound can be described as alternative rock, touching on folk and surf rock as well as indie pop,” Unearthed wrote of de Ruyter in 2020.

Moments after the attack, two surfers pulled de Ruyter onto the shoreline near the North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club, before bystanders used leg ropes as makeshift tourniquets to stem the bleeding from his calf.

Local surfer Dayyan Neve was among those who rushed to treat de Ruyter, using a leg rope as a makeshift tourniquet as the 27-year-old fell out of consciousness.

“The poor guy, I don’t think he was feeling much by then … we were just talking to him and we were all just trying to keep him awake,” Neve said on Monday night.

“Surfers stick together … we all know to grab a tourniquet … when there’s talk of a shark attack, all of us would do it for each other.”

De Ruyter received 13 units of blood which probably saved his life as he was rushed to hospital. In an emergency response authorities compared to a Formula 1 pit stop, two police highway patrol cars carrying blood from two hospitals stopped on the Spit Bridge and completed a 10-second handover to the ambulance carrying de Ruyter.

A livestream from a beach camera, set up for surfers and swimmers to check the water conditions, captured thrashing in the water at the time of the attack.

Hours before de Ruyter was mauled, a shark attacked an 11-year-old boy surfing at the southern end of Dee Why beach, biting his board several times.

On Sunday afternoon, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by what authorities believe was a large bull shark while jumping off a popular jump rock with friends at Nielsen Park.

On Tuesday morning, a surfer was attacked at Point Plomer Beach in Limeburners Creek National Park, north of Port Macquarie in the fourth attack in NSW waters in less than 48 hours.

The man took himself to Kempsey Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition. Beaches have been closed between Town Beach in Port Macquarie and Crescent Head.

Steve Pearce, the chief executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, said another 30 drum lines had been deployed and drones were flying over beaches on Tuesday.

“As a result of this spate of attacks, three attacks in around 24 hours is unprecedented in Sydney,” Pearce said.

“The beaches are closed. The beaches are unsafe. For your own personal safety do not swim for the next 48 hours.”

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