A woman's body was discovered near Perth in Western Australia and police reports say she had "significant injuries consistent with a shark attack". It is believed she had been diving near the northern suburb of Mindarie on Sunday morning local time.

The 60-year-old female was with a 43-year-old male diving partner in the reefs off Mindarie. The Fisheries Department is setting up shark capture gear, saying there is a significant threat to public safety, according to The Western Australian newspaper.

More from IBTimes UK

"Given the nature of the injuries and the location of the incident, it is likely that a large white shark, greater than 3m in size is responsible," a Fisheries spokeswoman said.

The tragedy comes just two days after the death of Australian surfer Ben Gerring who died in hospital three days after losing his right leg in a shark attack.

There were reports of sightings of the woman apparently injured in the water. A man rescued her and ferried the woman to dry land. Paramedics and police were called just before noon. He also reported that he had seen a shark in the water. Eyewitnesses on another boat nearby said the shark was larger than their 5.3m boat.

The man suffered a hand injury and was treated by medical teams, said an eyewitness in a report by The Western Australian newspaper.

The state's Department of Fisheries concurred with police that the cause of death may be a shark attack and is carrying out a full investigation. However, the cause of death has not yet been officially confirmed.

Attacks on humans by sharks were recorded at an all-time high in 2015, according to the International Shark Attack Files, with 98 unprovoked attacks, 18 of them occurring in Australia.

"Sharks plus humans equals attacks. As our population continues to rapidly grow and shark populations slowly recover, we're going to see more interactions," George Burgess at the Florida Museum of Natural History said.

Australia