Friend watches in horror as surfer killed by shark in California
Stock photo: Getty
A surfer has died after a shark attack off the California coast at Surf Beach in Santa Barbara County as his horrified friend looked on.
Francisco Javier Solorio Jr, 39, died after being bitten in the upper torso.
According to the sheriff's department, Mr Solorio was with a friend at the time of the attack, who helped drag him out of the water.
The Mirror reports that Sgt Mark Williams said he "had a friend who he was surfing with who saw the shark bite or hit the man. His friend ended up swimming over and pulling him from the water where he received first aid."
The attack was reported by another surfer at about 11am on Tuesday. All beaches on the base's coastline would be closed for at least 72 hours following the attack as a precaution, Colonel Nina Armagno said.
The type of shark involved in the attack is reportedly under investigation, but great white sightings have been regular at Surf Beach, which is located on Vandenberg Air Force Base, but remains accessible to the public.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Lt. Erik Raney said there were no shark warning signs posted at Surf Beach on Tuesday, adding that beaches don't typically post such notices unless the location had a recent shark sighting.
"We've had shark sightings up and down the Santa Barbara coastline pretty frequently recently," said Lt Raney, adding that the sightings are well-publicised.
According to the BBC, last month, warning signs were posted at Santa Barbara Harbour, about 105km (65 miles) south east of Surf Beach, after a large great white shark was spotted by a surfer.http://cms.aol.com/737/content/posts/create/
On 22 October 2010, surfer Lucas Ransom was attacked by a great white shark at the same beach and died from loss of blood.
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