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Australia: Large shark kills surfer in rare fatal attack; several beaches closed
The death is the first in a shark attack in Sydney since a swimmer was killed off a beach in February 2022
- PUBLISHED: Sat 6 Sept 2025, 9:53 AM
A surfer attacked by a large shark at a Sydney beach has died of his injuries, police said on Saturday, the first such incident in more than 3-1/2 years, prompting the closure of several beaches.
The victim, yet to be identified, was attacked about 100 m (328 ft) from shore while surfing with friends just after 10am at Long Reef Beach, in the north of the capital of the Australian state of New South Wales, police said.
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He was pulled from the water by other surfers, but had lost too much blood and died at the scene, police superintendent John Duncan said.
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"He'd suffered catastrophic injuries," Duncan, from Sydney's Northern Beaches unit, told a televised press conference.
Two sections of a surfboard were retrieved and taken for examination, police added.
It was not yet known what species of shark was responsible for the attack, which prompted Saturday's beach closures, authorities said.
The death is the first in a shark attack in Australia's most populous city since a swimmer was killed off a beach in February 2022, becoming Sydney's first such fatality since 1963.
There have been three other fatal shark attacks in 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.
'Waving a red flag'
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)."
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.
(With inputs from AFP)