A man died after an alleged shark attack on Long Reef Beach on the beaches of northern Sydney, police confirmed in Nueva Wales del Sur.
Emergency services were called shortly after 10:00 am local time on Saturday after informing that a surfer had suffered critical injuries about 100 meters from the coast.
Despite being taken from the water by other surfers, the man was declared dead on the scene.
Police said that two sections of a surfboard were recovered from water and were sent for an expert analysis. The victim, described as an experienced surfer, had been in the water for only about 30 minutes when the incident occurred.
In a statement, the police said the man had been taken from the morning on the shore on Long Reef Beach, but “died on the scene.”
“Two sections of a surf table for expert examination have been recovered and taken,” reads in the statement.
In an informative news session later on Saturday, the police described the victim as an “experienced surfer” who had been in the water with his friends.
They said he had been sailing for only about 30 minutes when he was attacked at about 100 m (328 feet) from the shore, losing “several limbs.”
Rod McGibbon, a surf service officer Life Saving, said the victim had been brought to the beach for other surfers.
He said he expected the beaches to remain closed between 24 and 72 hours.
The name of the victim has not been publicly released.
Local police and experts were now working together to “determine the species of sharks involved,” the police added.
The last deadly shark attack in the Sydney area in 2022, when Simon Nellist, a British diving instructor, was mutilated by a large white shark.
Before that, there had not been a fatal attack since 1963.
Australia generally records about 20 shark attacks every year, with most of the South Western Western Western.
Historically, dying of a shark bite is uncommon. In more than a century of records, the Australian shark attack mortality rate is 0.9, less than one person per year.
(BBC)
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