A 60-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing near Kingscliff in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.
Police confirmed the death after witnesses reported seeing a 3m-long shark attack the man’s left leg while surfing at Salt Beach shortly after 10am yesterday.
The man succumbed to his wounds at about 10:40am, a Surf Life Saving NSW spokesman said.
Photo: AP
Several surfers tried to help the 60-year-old, with some of them fighting off the shark so that he could be taken to shore, police said.
Kingscliff resident Stuart Gonsal had just arrived at the beach ready for a surf, when he found out about the attack.
“We came down and we hadn’t got in the water and police were immediately hauling people in,” Gonsal told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. “We found out there was a fatal shark attack on the south side of the rock wall. We were going to get in, we’re not going to now for sure.”
Authorities believe the 60-year-old, who has not yet been identified, is from Queensland.
The beach was cleared, and helicopters, jet skis and drones were deployed to locate the shark.
The shark was not identified, and while great white sharks are active in the area, the NSW Department of Primary Industries detected a bull shark in the waters off Kingscliff on Friday evening.
Beaches between Kingscliff and Cabarita were cleared of swimmers and surfers by officers from Marine Area Command and the local Surf Lifesavers. The beaches were to remain closed for 24 hours.
It was at least the third fatal shark attack in Australia this year.In January, a diver was killed near Esperance off the Western Australia state coast. In April, a shark fatally mauled a 23-year-old wildlife worker on the Great Barrier Reef.
Additional reporting by AP
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