What kind of shark attacked on California coast?
| LOS ANGELES
A shark聽killed a male surfer at a popular surf spot off聽California's coast on Tuesday in the second fatal shark聽attack at the same beach in two years, authorities said.
The incident took place at Surf Beach near Vandenberg Air Force Base, north of the coastal city of聽Santa Barbara. The beach was closed by authorities after the attack.
"It was a confirmed shark聽attack and a confirmed death," a聽Santa Barbara聽County Sheriff's spokeswoman said.
A friend of the surfer pulled him out of the water after the late-morning attack, but life-saving efforts were unsuccessful and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, the聽Santa Barbara聽County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
Authorities could not immediately identify the size or type of shark聽involved.
"I don't think they saw enough of the shark聽to identify it," sheriff's department spokeswoman聽Diane Cline聽said.
Fatal shark聽attacks are rare on the聽U.S. West Coast, according to records kept by the Shark聽Research Committee, a nonprofit group that documents attacks.
Surfers were the most frequent victims and Great White sharks were the most frequent attackers, according to the group.
The attack came almost exactly two years after a shark聽attacked a 19-year-old man on a boogie board at the same beach on Oct. 22, 2010, pulling him underwater. That man died from wounds to his leg.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Will Dunham)
