Australian police has disclosed that a suspected “large shark” mauled a man to death in waters off northern Sydney on Saturday, leading to a string of beach closures.
New South Wales police which confirmed the development through a statement issued on Saturday said the man was pulled out of the morning surf onto shore at Long Reef Beach but died at the scene,.
“A man has died on the Northern Beaches after being bitten by what is believed to have been a large shark,” police said.
Two sections of a surfboard were recovered and taken for forensic examination.
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.
Following the latest attack, Pacific Ocean beaches between the northern suburbs of Manly and Narrabeen were closed “pending further notice”.
Police said emergency services rushed to the scene following alerts that the man, who was not identified, had suffered “critical injuries”.
An unnamed surfer said the victim had been surfing between Long Reef and Dee Why beaches.
According to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, 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.
The surfer added that “There was a surf lifesaving guy waving a red flag .I didn’t know what it was … but thought I should probably go in (to shore).”