You learned how to be a good friend when you were in kindergarten: Friends help each other. Then you become a grown-up and you've heard what practical people have said about life and death: Save the living, bury the dead. Now when your friend dies from a shark attack, helping him by recovering his body would go against saving your own life, wouldn't it? Still, would you do it? Would you save your friend's dead body and risk your own life in the process?

Friends of an Aussie man who died while free-diving off Moreton Island in Queensland did not need much time to second guess themselves on whether they would retrieve their mate's body in the ocean. They jumped in to dive down 24 metres despite being aware that the shark that attacked their friend was circling their friend's dead body. They were determined to not leave their mate on the sea floor.

The tragedy struck at around 11 in the morning on Monday.

A rescue helicopter crewman who witnessed the heroic efforts of the friends amid the tragedy said the mates did an incredible job.

"They have dived down 24 metres holding their breaths and have grabbed hold of the gentleman and have brought him back to the surface. As far as I am concerned it is an amazing effort," crewman and witness Dan King told ABC.

The man who died from shark attack was believed to be in his 20's. He was fishing with a speargun while free-diving. Sharks are naturally attracted to unusual movements underwater, and it is suspected that the shark was attracted to the fish the man caught and he got in the shark's way, which led to his tragic death.

The heroic efforts of the shark victim's friends are now being spread by Australian media.