(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-08 09:12

SYDNEY - A shark attacked and killed a teenage boy Tuesday while he was surfing off Australia's eastern coast, officials said.

The 16-year-old and a friend were surfing about 50 meters (yards) from shore when the shark attacked just after 8:30 a.m., lifeguard spokesman Stephen Leahy said.

The boy called to his friend, who brought him to shore. The victim suffered two large bites, one to the leg and one to the body, and died while lifeguards and paramedics tried to save him.

"We had multiple paramedics en route to the scene as well as the rescue helicopter, but tragically the young boy has died at the scene," New South Wales Ambulance spokeswoman Penelope Little told Sky News television.

Leahy said all nearby beaches had been closed as a precaution, and that crews were looking for the shark in the waters off Ballina, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) north of Sydney.

There are an average of 15 shark attacks a year in Australian waters - one of the highest rates in the world - but on average just over one per year are fatal.

In January, a fisherman survived a bite by a shark he had reeled onto his boat deck. In December, a surfer was attacked by a shark at a beach north of Sydney but his injuries were not life-threatening.