A 60-year-old female diver has been killed by a great white shark in Perth’s north, less than a week after a surfer was fatally mauled south of the city.

The woman’s death comes just two days after 29-year-old Ben Gerring died in hospital after being mauled near Mandurah last week.

Inspector Danny Mulligan told reporters the woman was diving with a 43-year-old man at a popular spot in Mindarie about 11.50am on Sunday when she was mauled.

“The man said that he felt something go past him and he turned around,” Insp Mulligan said.

“He didn’t see the shark at that stage but he felt it better to surface. When he surfaced, he saw a commotion in the water.

“Another boat arrived to pull him out of the water and then it was noticed that the lady had suffered some severe and fatal injuries.”

The other boat got between the uninjured male diver and the shark, and the man was then able to get back into his own boat and pull the woman from the water.

Insp Mulligan said the other boat was 5.3m long and the three fishermen on-board believed the shark was longer than their vessel. Surf Life Saving WA had tweeted a shark sighting at 11.30am, saying there was a public report of an unknown species of shark at Mindarie Beach, one kilometre offshore.

About two hours later, they tweeted that a 4.5 metre white shark was spotted 300m offshore from Mindarie Marina.

The Department of Fisheries believes the shark is more than 3m long, although other estimates had the shark at 6m, and officers have set gear to catch and kill the animal.

The City of Wanneroo has closed beaches either side of Mindarie boat ramp, south from Claytons Beach and surf spot and north to Quinns Beach.

It is the second shark attack fatality in Western Australia in less than a week.

Ben Gerring died on Friday night at Royal Perth Hospital after being mauled by a shark at Gearies break in Falcon, south of Perth, on Tuesday, leaving behind his pregnant fiancee, Jasmine Boyer.

A large shark was caught and killed on Wednesday in baited drum lines close to the attack site.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help Mr Gerring in his recovery but people have continued to donate money since his death, raising more than $43,400.