A suspected “large shark” has mauled a surfer to death in a rare fatal attack off Australia’s Sydney beach, police and rescuers said, prompting the closure of several beaches.
The incident on Saturday is only the second deadly shark attack in Australia’s most populous city after a 35-year-old British diving instructor was killed off a beach in February 2022 – the first such death in Sydney since 1963.
The victim, still unidentified, was pulled out of the Pacific surf onto shore at northern Sydney’s Long Reef Beach but died at the scene, New South Wales police said in a statement.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the man was in his 50s and was an experienced surfer. He was reportedly surfing with friends when the attack happened just 100 metres (330ft) from the shore.
The man lost both his legs while his surfboard was cut in half, the Herald reported. It was not yet known what species of shark was responsible for the attack.
Images of the scene on local media showed police gathered on the shore and ambulances parked nearby. Drones were scanning the beach for shark activity, according to Australian public broadcaster ABC.
The victim was bitten by the ocean predator while surfing in the morning away from a patrolled area of the beach, according to Surf Life Saving NSW.
Beaches between the northern suburbs of Manly and Narrabeen have been closed for at least 24 hours, it said. Surf life-saving clubs nearby have cancelled all water activities and training for the weekend.
An unnamed surfer said the victim had been surfing off the adjoining Long Reef and Dee Why beaches.
“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, according to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
There have been three other fatal shark attacks in other parts of Australia in 2025, data from the state-run operator of Sydney’s Taronga Zoo shows.
In March, a surfer was killed by a shark in shallow water on a remote beach in Western Australia.
In February, a shark killed a 17-year-old girl swimming off an eastern Australian island, while a 28-year-old surfer was fatally bitten in South Australia a month earlier.
On December 28, a shark fatally bit a 40-year-old man in the neck as he was spearfishing off Queensland.
There have been at least 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans.
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