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Shark Kills WA Kite Surfer In New Caledonia

He suffered a deep bite to the thigh from a big shark, rescuers said.
The attack marks the second in six months.
Getty
The attack marks the second in six months.

A West Australian kitesurfer has died after a shark attack off New Caledonia's main island.

The ABC reports the 50-year-old man was bitten by a large shark on the thigh after he fell into the water inside the reef off the northern port of Koumac on Monday.

"He suffered a deep bite to the thigh from a big shark," said Nicolas Renaud, head of the archipelago's marine rescue coordination centre.

"We don't know for the moment what species it was."

The incident marks the second fatal shark attack off New Caledonia in the past six-months, after a woman was killed on a beach on the western island of Poe.

In June a kitesurfer had part of his heel bitten off when a shark attacked him while he was sailing his board off of New Caledonia.

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