Man dies in shark attack at Muriwai Beach, north of Auckland

VIDEO: Family members are grief-stricken after being told a male relative's body was carried out to sea and killed by sharks.

A MAN is dead after a Great White shark attack at Muriwai Beach, north of Auckland.

Emergency services rushed to Muriwai, a popular west coast surf beach just before 11.30am today following reports of a shark attack.

A student said police officers fired 20 shots at the 3.7-4.3 metre long Great White Shark, which has not been retrieved from the sea, Stuff NZ reported.

Newstalk ZB reporter Juliette Sivertsen said the attack was very aggressive, with the shark refusing to let go of the man's body until police shot at it.

Fisherman Pio Mose told APNZ that he saw a man swimming nearby.

"All of a sudden ... we saw the shark fin and next minute, boom, attack him then blood every where on the water," he said.

He called 111 while his mate ran to get help.

"He was still alive, he put his, head up, we called him to swim over the rock to where we were.

"He raised his hand up, and then while he was rising his hand up we saw another attack pull him in the water.

"He came back up, his head was on the water ... then we notice he was already dead."

He said as the blood covered the water more sharks started swimming around the area.

Mr Mose and the other fisherman watched as the shark took the man's body out to sea and when lifeguards eventually arrived they directed them to where the group of sharks were.

"It's awful - it's scary like a nightmare to me. I was shaking, scared, panicked," said Mr Mose.

He said he had never seen sharks in the area in the three years he'd been fishing in that spot.

"All I was thinking was I wanted to jump in the water and help but I didn't want to get attacked by a shark too."

Mr Mose said those who went out to retrieve the man's body fired about six shots at the shark.

Stef McCallum, 18, of Wellington, said they were first aware something was wrong when a man ran across to the surf club to get help.

A woman told us a man had just been killed by a shark, she said.

"She said there was a big pool of blood in the water."

McCallum said they saw a police officer go out in a surf boat and shoot the shark.

"He fired about 20 shots."

Around 200 people were on the beach and people quickly ran.

"Everybody was evacuated from the water. Word of mouth, 'shark', and everybody left the water."

A witness told 3 News NZ that he spotted the lone swimmer while he was out fishing at the beach.

The distressed man signalled for help when he was attacked by a shark, before he was pulled underwater.

At this point, the witness said three or four other sharks appeared in the area.

The victim was aged 47, from Meriwai.

Police Inspector Shawn Rutene said the man had been swimming alone from Maori Bay to Muriwai Beach, several hundred metres from shore when he was attacked by a 4-metre shark, described as broad.

Insp Rutene said the man's wife and family were distraught. It took police and Muriwai lifeguards about 30 minutes to recover the body as two sharks circled, with police shooting at the sharks.

The three lifeguards recovering the body knew the victim.

His family gathered at the scene, with people seen embracing in the surf club car park and being escorted into the club, New Zealand Herald reported.

Auckland Council has closed Muriwai Regional Park and expects it to be closed for the next few days. All beaches north of Manukau Harbour, including popular Karekare and Piha, are also closed.

Lifeguard presence will be increased on the beaches, as well as mobile patrols in the water until Friday when the situation will be reassessed.

Earlier this week surfer Bourne Nobel Buiski posted on Facebook that there had been a "massive" shark spotted near surfers on Monday at Piha, 14 kilometres south of Muriwai.

He said that a local man ran out of the water "white faced and terrified".

"He was saying that a great white, a massive great white had just swum right beside him," Buiski said.

No one believed him, he said.

"As they are so rare here. There were about 60 people there, and no one came in."