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“I went out there and, I don’t know, I just thought I’ve got to get this guy in and that’s what I tried to do,” Hickey said.

He said he dragged the victim onto the beach and attempted to resuscitate him for 20 minutes, but the man had apparently bled to death in the water. Ten reported that the shark had bitten through the victim’s wetsuit on his upper right thigh, tearing off much of his leg.

The leg wounds were being examined to identify the size and species of the shark.

Police told 9 News the victim’s wife was on the beach at the time of the attack.

Cullen said the crew of a rescue helicopter spotted what appeared to be a great white shark in the area after the suspected attack, but had lost sight of it. She said all Byron Bay beaches would be closed for 24 hours due to the potential danger.

Byron Bay is a renowned surfing location near Cape Byron, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, about 800 kilometres north of Sydney.

The death is the first fatal attack in Australia since April 3, when a 63-year-old woman was taken by a 3-to-4-metre shark near the village of Tathra, 340 kilometres south of Sydney.

Although sharks are common off Australia’s coasts, the country has averaged fewer than two fatal attacks per year in recent decades. But fatal attacks are becoming more common. Two men were killed in shark attacks off the east and west coasts in the space of a week in November last year. They were the only fatalities in 2013.

With files from National Post staff