Shark Attack: Teenager Dead After Being Bitten While Surfing

A 17-year-old boy was killed after being bitten by a shark while surfing off New South Wales’s north coast in Australia.

Witnesses spotted the teenager being attacked by the shark while he was surfing at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, near Grafton. Several board-riders came to his assistance. The boy was taken to the shore but despite CPR efforts, he died at the scene.

This is the second fatal attack in a week and at least the fifth in Australia this year.

Beaches in the area, including Wooli, Diggers Camp and Minnie Water, were closed following the incident.

The Clarence Valley mayor, Jim Simmons, said visitors had flocked to the region for the school holidays.

“What’s happened there this afternoon would shake everybody,” Simmons said. “It’s terribly shocking. All of our sympathies, from people in the area, go out to the boy’s family.

“I just ask people to look out for their safety on the beaches," Simmons added.

Authorities said that the Coffs/Clarence police district will be liaising with the Department of Primary Industries to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

The latest incident comes just a week after a 20-year-old scuba diver who was spear-fishing died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Australia’s Queensland state. In April, a Queensland wildlife ranger Zachary Robba was fatally mauled by a great white shark.

A 60-year-old surfer was killed in a shark attack off Kingscliff in New South Wales state in June, while a 57-year-old diver's life was claimed in a similar attack off the Western Australia state in January.