Port beach shark attack: Victim revealed as father Paul Millachip as search is called off

Port Beach regular Paul Millachip has been identified as the father-of-two killed by a shark off the popular North Fremantle beach on Saturday.

Police announced the search for 57-year-old man would be suspended at 4pm on Sunday..

Holding back tears, Mr Millachip’s wife said he died doing what he loved and was a “lovely man” and “great father”.

“Rest in peace Paul,” Mr Millachip’s wife said.

“He died doing, what he enjoyed doing the most, which was exercising.”

She described the pain of losing him as “very hard.”

Mr Millachip’s wife, who did not want to named, was in Port Beach’s change rooms when the shark struck.

The couple would exercise at the beach strip two or three times a week.

“We would go running first and then go swimming. . . for a kilometre, he was due to go swimming for a kilometre on Saturday,” she said.

The 57-year-old father of two is believed to have been taken by a 4.5 metre shark at 10.05am on Saturday, about 50 metres off North Fremantle’s Port Beach, just north of surfing spot Sandtrax.

Mr Millachip could not be found on Saturday after witnesses saw the man struggling in the water before being “dragged under” the waves by the shark around 10am.

Land, air and sea patrols carried on throughout most of Sunday, but the authorities were unsuccessful in finding Mr Millachip.

WA Police Senior Sergeant Troy Douglas on Saturday said the terrifying incident was witnessed by four teenage boys in a dinghy on the water — just metres away from where the man was mauled.

“They vividly saw what was going on in the water … a person being attacked by a shark,” he said.

“And they have alerted emergency services straight away.”

The boys were hailed as heroes by police and witnesses for getting other swimmers out of the water so quickly.

Mr Millachip’s wife said their actions were “amazing.”

“Thank goodness no one else was injured, they could have potentially saved other lives,” she said.

Kaiden Boult, 16, said he and his friends had been surfing near the rocks when a boy in a dinghy “came flying at us and screamed at us to get out of the water because there’s been a shark attack”.

“We scurried out on to the rocks (and went) to get a look from a high vantage point. As soon as we did we saw a massive shark out there,” he told The West Australian on Saturday.

“Next thing you know there’s cops and paramedics coming out of everywhere, and they cordoned it off and said it was a crime scene.”