The man was pulled out of the morning surf onto shore at Long Reef Beach but died at the scene, New South Wales police said in a statement.

“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.

“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.

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).”