{"id":210263,"date":"2025-09-08T13:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210263\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T13:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:14:13","slug":"twin-brother-pays-tribute-to-surfer-fatally-mauled-in-sydney-shark-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210263\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin brother pays tribute to surfer fatally mauled in Sydney shark attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

The twin brother of the surfer fatally mauled by a shark near Dee Why has paid tribute, saying the loss “is the hardest moment” of his life.<\/p>\n

Mercury Psillakis, a 57-year-old who left behind a daughter and wife hours before Father’s Day, suffered catastrophic injuries in the attack at Long Reef Beach on Saturday.<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon via social media, his twin brother Mike spoke of his pain.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Mike said his brother (pictured right) was his “right hand man”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“He was my Ying, I was his Yang. He was my mirror, my blood, my DNA,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“Mercury was my life, my right hand man. Words cannot describe the bond we had together growing up.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mike said his brother lived life with “passion” and that he would be remembered as “the life at every party”.<\/p>\n

“Tell your loved one’s that you love them. Hold them tight.”<\/p>\n

Friends of Mr Psillakis recalled how he saved several of his fellow surfers in his final moments.<\/p>\n

“Merc spotted the shark early, informed the other surfers in the water to band together and to try and get back to shore safely,” professional surfer and family friend Toby Martin said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

A lone surfer ventured into the water in the same place where the fatal shark attack occurred. (Supplied: Toby Martin)<\/p>\n

A lone surfer has been the first person to venture into the ocean where Saturday’s fatal shark attack happened.<\/p>\n

He took to the waves at Long Reef beach at Dee Why about 5pm on Tuesday, just before dusk.<\/p>\n

Dee Why Beach has remained closed since the weekend, with inspectors from Northern Beaches Council to make a decision on Tuesday morning on whether it will reopen, after consulting Department of Primary Industries officers and Surf Life Saving NSW.<\/p>\n

White shark spotted off Manly Beach<\/p>\n

The tribute comes after a tagged white shark was spotted off Manly Beach 48 hours after Mr Psillakis’s death.<\/p>\n

A shark tag sensor went off at 10.51am on Monday at the North Steyne receiver, according to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s (DPIRD) Shark Smart service.<\/p>\n

The beach alarm system was then activated at Manly.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney's<\/p>\n

Sydney’s Manly Beach on Saturday, when swimmers were ordered to leave the water after a shark attacked a man in Dee Why. (ABC News: Anton Rose)<\/p>\n

The shark was originally tagged at Diggers Beach in Coffs Harbour in 2023 and was last seen on the Central Coast in June before being recorded on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Monday.<\/p>\n

“At the time it was tagged, it was 2.03 metres total length,” a statement from DPI said.<\/p>\n

“DPIRD shark scientists estimate the shark would now be approximately 2.5-2.7 metres in length.<\/p>\n

“This is smaller than the estimated size of the white shark involved in Saturday’s incident at Dee Why.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Northern Beaches Council was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

The waters off Long Reef Beach near Dee Why where Mr Psillakis was surfing on Saturday was netted as part of the state-wide rollout on September 1.<\/p>\n

Government experts have estimated the shark that attacked Mr Psillakis was between 3.4 metres and 3.6 metres.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The scene at Dee Why on Monday, following the 57-year-old’s death at the weekend.\u00a0 (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n

Police said his body was retrieved a short time later and that he was missing “a number of limbs”.<\/p>\n

The beach at Dee Why was subject to a 72-hour closure while beaches from Narrabeen to Manly were closed for 24 hours after the attack.<\/p>\n

A state government plan to trial removing shark nets from one beach on the Northern Beaches has been put on hold in the aftermath of Mr Psillakis’ death at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Waverley and Central Coast councils were also set to be part of the trial to begin this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The twin brother of the surfer fatally mauled by a shark near Dee Why has paid tribute, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":210264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,112571,115348,115344,50,22230,115347,115346,82795,115345],"class_list":{"0":"post-210263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dee-why","10":"tag-department-of-primary-industries","11":"tag-manly-beach","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-shark-attack","14":"tag-shark-spotted-sydney","15":"tag-shark-spotting-sydney","16":"tag-white-shark","17":"tag-white-shark-spotting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115168861940803733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}