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A man has died on a Sydney beach after being bitten by a suspected “large shark”, Australia’s New South Wales police have said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the police said the man had been pulled out of the morning surf onto the shore at Long Reef Beach – but he “died at the scene”.<\/p>\n
“Two sections of a surfboard have been recovered and taken for expert examination,” the statement read.<\/p>\n
Saturday’s incident has resulted in a string of closures in the popular area known as the Northern Beaches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The state police said the emergency services received reports shortly after 10:00am local time on Saturday (00:00 GMT) that “a man had suffered critical injuries”.<\/p>\n
At a news briefing later on Saturday, the police described the victim as an “experienced surfer” who had been in the water with his friends.<\/p>\n
They said he had been surfing for only about 30 minutes when he was attacked some 100m (328ft) off the shore, losing “a number of limbs”.<\/p>\n
Rod McGibbon, a duty officer from Surf Life Saving, said the victim had been brought to the beach by other surfers. <\/p>\n
He said he expected the beaches to remain closed for between 24 and 72 hours.<\/p>\n
The victim’s name has not been publicly released.<\/p>\n
Local police officers and experts were now working together to “determine the species of shark involved”, the police added.<\/p>\n
The last deadly shark attack in the Sydney area in 2022, when Simon Nellist – a British diving instructor – was mauled by a great white shark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prior to that, there had not been a fatal attack since 1963.<\/p>\n Australia typically records about 20 shark attacks each year, with most in New South Wales and Western Australia.<\/p>\n Historically, dying from a shark bite is uncommon. In over a century of records, Australia’s shark attack mortality rate is 0.9 – less than one person per year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n