SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A “large shark” mauled a surfer to death at a popular Sydney beach on Saturday, Australian police and rescuers said, in a rare fatal attack that led to a string of beach closures.

The 57-year-old local man had gone surfing with five or six friends in the Pacific waters off northern Sydney’s adjoining Long Reef and Dee Why beaches, authorities said.

The man — an experienced surfer with a wife and a young daughter — lost “a number of limbs”, New South Wales police superintendent John Duncan told a news conference.

“I do understand that both him and his board disappeared underwater,” he told reporters.

“The body was found floating in the surf.”

A couple of surfers saw him in the water and got him to shore, Duncan said.

“Unfortunately, by that time we understand he lost probably a lot of blood and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.”

People nearby saw the ocean predator, according to police, who earlier said they believed a “large shark” attacked the man.

The man’s surfboard was broken in half, Duncan said.

Government experts will examine the remains of the surfboard and the man’s body to help them determine the species of shark involved, police said.

Most serious shark bites in ocean-loving Australia are from great whites, bull sharks, and tiger sharks.

Images of the scene on local media showed police gathered on the shore and ambulances parked nearby.

Beaches between the northern suburbs of Manly and Narrabeen have been closed for at least 24 hours, Surf Life Saving NSW said.

“For now, please remain clear of the water at beaches in the vicinity and follow the direction of lifeguards and lifesavers,” the organisation’s chief executive Steven Pearce said in a statement.

“Our deepest condolences go to the family of the man involved in this terrible tragedy.”

Surf lifesaving clubs nearby have cancelled all water activity and training for the weekend.

– ‘Waving a red flag’ –
Drones and surf lifesavers on waterskis were patrolling the beaches for shark activity.

It was the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 2022, when 35-year-old British diving instructor Simon Nellist was killed off Little Bay.

The previous fatal attack in the city was in 1963.

An unnamed surfer told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that he saw the aftermath of the attack.

“Four or five surfers pulled him out of the water and it looked like a significant part of his lower half had been attacked,” the surfer said.

People were ordered out of the water, he told the paper.

“There was a surf lifesaving guy waving a red flag,” the surfer said. “I didn’t know what it was … but thought I should probably go in (to shore).”

Australia’s last deadly shark attack was in March, when a surfer was taken off the remote Wharton Beach of Western Australia.

There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans.