Canberra, May 18 (IANS): A man died after a suspected shark attack at a beach in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Tuesday, police said.

NSW Police said emergency services were called to Tuncurry Beach, some 300 km north of Sydney, around 11.20 a.m., "and found a man suffering critical injuries to his upper right thigh after being attacked while surfing", reports dpa news agency.

"The man, believed to be in his 50s, was pulled from the water and officers from Manning Great Lakes Police District commenced CPR; however, he died at the scene," a police statement said.

Police said that both Tuncurry Beach and Forster Main Beach were closed.

They added they would work with the Department of Primary Industries to identify the species responsible for the attack.

"Despite the best efforts of paramedics and bystanders at the scene the man could not be resuscitated," NSW Ambulance said tweeted about an hour after saying that paramedics were responding to reports of a shark attack at the beach.

Fatal shark attacks in Australian waters increased eightfold in 2020, making it the deadliest year on record since 1934.

Last year Australia reported eight deadly shark attacks.

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