AKIPRESS.COM - A man was killed after a shark tore off his legs while he was surfing off Australia's east coast, not far from the area where another surfer was mauled by a shark a day earlier.

The 41-year-old Japanese national was sitting on his board waiting for a wave when the shark came up behind him and grabbed the back of the board and the man's legs in its mouth, reports Telegraph.

The man's friends, who had been surfing alongside him, rushed him to shore, where they tried to stop the bleeding with tourniquets and performed CPR.

"But because both legs were gone, he bled to death very quickly," said David Wright,mayor of the New South Wales town of Ballina, where the attack occurred

Officials have not released the man's name, but Mr Wright said he had been living in the area and worked at a local surf shop and as a cleaner at a hotel.

Shelly Beach, the site of the attack, was closed, along with a larger stretch of coastline as officials searched for the shark.

Sharks are common off Australia's beaches, but fatal attacks are rare - the country has averaged fewer than two deadly attacks per year in recent decades.