Australian man killed by shark at popular beach in New Caledonia

An Australian tourer has been killed by a shark successful beforehand of horrified onlookers successful the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

The 59-year-old was swimming astir 150m (500ft) from enactment astatine a fashionable formation successful Nouméa erstwhile helium was attacked connected Sunday, authorities say.

He was bitten respective times, suffering large wounds to his limb and arms, and died astatine the scene.

It is the 3rd shark onslaught adjacent the Chateau-Royal formation successful 3 weeks.

Two radical sailing adjacent took the antheral backmost to the beach, wherever exigency services tried to revive him.

Many radical were successful the h2o astatine the clip and witnessed the attack, section media person reported, prompting a panicked unreserved backmost to the shore.

Authorities person closed astir beaches successful the area, and ordered the seizure of sharks successful adjacent waters.

A 49-year-old swimmer was earnestly injured by a shark successful the country connected 29 January, and a surfer was besides attacked a fewer days later.

New Caledonia, which lies southbound of Vanuatu, is astir 1,200km (750 miles) eastbound of Australia.

Though it is location to lone 270,000 people, it ranks 13th successful the world for the full fig of shark attacks, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, which has kept a tally crossed the globe since 1958.