A teenage boy was killed by a shark while surfing as Australia witnessed a spike in attacks on its southern coast.

The body of the 14-year-old was recovered from the water at a popular holiday and surfing spot.

A local resident said that the attack near Ethel Beach in the Innes National Park on the Yorke Peninsula was the first fatal incident in the area he was aware of.

But the attack is the latest in a series of incidents in Australia recently.

It is the fifth recorded in waters in South Australia this year, three of which were fatal.

The boy was around 30 to 40m away from the shore when the shark attacked him, according to reports.

Ethel Beach is a 400m stretch of sand that sees waves averaging 1.5m.

Sightings of large sharks

South Australia Police said in a statement that they were made aware of the attack on Thursday at 13.30 local time.

“Sadly the body of a teenage boy was recovered from the water,” police said in a statement.

A local fisherman told reporters that sightings of large sharks in nearby waters are not uncommon.

“We’ve seen some pretty big bronzies in the area, but that’s normal here,” he told Adelaide’s The Advertiser.

“I went to take the boat out and the road to Ethel’s was blocked by rangers. There’s no cell reception out there in the park so we didn’t know what had happened until we got back to Marion Bay.”

In May, teacher Simon Baccanello was killed while surfing at Walkers Rock near Elliston on the west coast of the southerly Eyre Peninsula.

In October, a great white shark measuring 4m killed surfer Tod Gendle near Streaky Bay, some 80 miles to the north. 

Aerial beach patrols were brought forward by two weeks in November due to the total number of attacks.

It came after calls from the public for greater protection for swimmers in the area.

Similar attacks

Unlike New South Wales and Queensland, South Australia does not use drum lines, nets or tagging to help control the shark population.

Other areas have also suffered from similar attacks.

In August, surfer Toby Begg suffered from life-changing injuries after an attack in New South Wales.

Experts concluded that the shark measured between 3.8m and 4.2m after they assessed bite marks on Mr Begg’s surfboard.