SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A “large shark” mauled a surfer to death at a popular Sydney beach on Saturday, Australian police and rescuers said, in a rare fatal attack that led to a string of beach closures.

The 57-year-old local man had gone surfing with five or six friends in the Pacific waters off northern Sydney’s adjoining Long Reef and Dee Why beaches, authorities said.

The man — an experienced surfer with a wife and a young daughter — lost “a number of limbs,” New South Wales police superintendent John Duncan told a news conference.

“I do understand that both him and his board disappeared underwater,” he told reporters.

“The body was found floating in the surf.”

A couple of surfers saw him in the water and got him to shore, Duncan said.

“Unfortunately, by that time we understand he lost probably a lot of blood and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.”

People nearby saw the ocean predator, according to police, who earlier said they believed a “large shark” attacked the man.

The man’s surfboard was broken in half, Duncan said.

Government experts will examine the remains of the surfboard and the man’s body to help them determine the species of shark involved, police said.