A surfer was killed in an apparent shark attack off the central California coast Friday, authorities said.
The incident occurred at the Morro Bay State Park beach before 11 a.m. local time, according to the Morro Bay Police Department.
The man was unresponsive after he was pulled from the water “suffering from an apparent shark attack,” the department said in a statement.
The surfer was pronounced dead at the scene and has not been identified yet, police said.
The San Luis Obispo County Coroner’s Office and state parks representatives are investigating the scene, police said Friday afternoon.
The beaches in the area of the apparent attack will remain open but authorities have ordered people to stay out of the water for the next 24 hours.
Shark attacks are very rare, especially fatal ones.
There were 33 unprovoked shark attacks on humans in the United States last year, three of which were fatal, according to data from the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.
Nearly half of the unprovoked attacks occurred in Florida. The fatalities were in California, Hawaii and Maine.
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