Shark attack kills man on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

A 39-year-old man has died after being attacked by a shark on Sunday while fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, police said, the second fatal shark attack in Australia this month.

The man was one of four people who took a seven-metre-long boat to Kennedy Shoal, a shallow reef around 45 kilometres (28 miles) off the coast of the state of Queensland in northeast Australia, Queensland Police Service Inspector Elaine Burns told reporters.

"We believe the man had been spearfishing when he was attacked and died from a critical head injury," she said. "He was retrieved from the water by another person who was in the water with him at the time of the attack."