JOHANNESBURG, April 5 (Xinhua) -- A 16-year-old surfer died after attacked by a shark off Muizenberg Beach near Cape Town on Monday.

    National Sea Rescue Institute spokesman Ian Klopper said the boy had been surfing with a group of friends when he was bitten bya great white shark just before 2 pm (1200 GMT).

    "His board was broken in half and his right leg was amputated,"Klopper said.

    The boy's friends helped him to shore and lifesavers carried out CPR. Paramedics then rushed him to the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic, where doctors attempted to resuscitate him for over an hour before he died.

    Klopper did not know if the teenager's parents were aware of the attack. "The conditions were exactly the same as those at Noordhoek during the last attack there... glassy, small waves."

    Lifesavers were warning surfers about the shark, which was spotted on Sunday afternoon. It is about five or five-and-a-half meters long.

    Klopper said the scene at the beach was one of shock and dismay."This is certainly the first time in my memory that a surfer has been killed by a shark at Muizenberg."

    "You would think it would happen all the time with Seal Island being so close by... but this is the first fatal attack I know of," he said. Enditem