Wedge Island, Australia (July 14, 2012) -- A surfer was killed by a shark early Saturday on Australia's western coast, the fifth such death in the region in less than a year.

(@ 00:39) A jet-ski rider who went to the aid of the surfer said that he too was attacked by the shark.

"I reached to grab the body and the shark came at me on the jet-ski
and tried to knock me off, and I did another loop and when I came back
to the body the shark took it," the unnamed man told national
broadcaster ABC.

He said that when he reached the scene near Wedge Island, 160
kilometers (about 100 miles) north of Perth, "there was just blood
everywhere and a massive, massive white shark circling the body."

The fifth such death in the region in less than a year was
confirmed in a Twitter feed by Surf Life Saving WA (Western Australia). More than 30 shark attacks have been reported during the past 40 years on the west coast, 12 of them fatal.

The region was responsible for one-quarter of all the shark-attack deaths reported in the world last year.

1st hand Story in the video starts @ 1:09, if you want to skip to the story