A man who was attacked by a shark at a beach in Australia’s eastern state of New South Wales has reportedly died after going into cardiac arrest on Tuesday.

The state’s ambulance service disclosed at 11:30 a.m (0130 GMT) that paramedics were responding to the man who was bitten by a shark at Tancurry Beach, also known as Nine Mile Beach, some 300 kilometers north of Sydney.

The ambulance service tweeted about the incident about an hour later.

“In spite of the best efforts of paramedics and bystanders at the scene, the man could not be resuscitated.”

According to local media reports, the man in his 50s went into cardiac arrest after being bitten on his right upper thigh while surfing.

He was treated at the scene after going into cardiac arrest.

NAN reported that fatal shark attacks in Australian waters increased eightfold in 2020, making it the deadliest year on record since 1934.

In 2020, Australia tallied eight deadly shark attacks.

For about 50 years, there has been on average one fatal shark attack per year, and in 2019 there were none.

NAN