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A tiger shark may have been responsible for the attack, but this has not yet been confirmed (archive image)
Photo: Norbert Probst / imagebroker / imago images
In western Australia, a man died after a shark attack.
The police said they were called on Sunday morning because of a shark attack to the Cable Beach area on the Indian Ocean, popular with tourists.
The 55-year-old was pulled out of the water and received medical care, the police said.
But later he succumbed to his injuries.
According to the local police inspector Gene Pears, the victim was about 30 to 40 meters from the beach with his body board in the water when the attack occurred.
The man is said to have sustained injuries to his leg and hand.
"This is a very tragic and unexpected incident," Pears said.
It is extremely rare for the animals to attack humans on Cable Beach, which is 14 miles long near the town of Broome.
According to local journalists, the species could have been a tiger shark.
These sometimes approached the coast when they were attracted by schools of fish.
Police said they shot the shark, which was still near the coast, about half an hour after the incident.
According to the authorities, it was the eighth fatal shark attack on a person in Australia this year.
Only in 1929 was the number higher, with nine such fatal incidents in Australia.
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hpp / dpa / afp / ap
