A 16-year-old boy has died after being bitten on the leg and lower body by a shark at North Wall Beach, Ballina.
He was surfing on a bodyboard with a friend about 50 metres out from shore at the time of the attack.
Paramedic Patrick Cantwell says the second teenager dragged his mate ashore and raised the alarm at around 8:15am.
"Tragically when the paramedics arrived [at around 8:30am] the male had died at the scene," he confirmed.
Channel 10 reporter Max Futcher is at Ballina and says the extent of the boys injuries was horrific.
"Once [paramedics] arrived they found massive injuries to the teenager's lower body," he reported.
"Emergency crews say it must have been quite a big shark to inflict those sort of injuries.
"They have issued fresh warnings about swimming or surfing near the mouth of rivers. There are plenty of pointers and whaler sharks in those sort of areas, especially at this time of year."
The shark hasn't been spotted since and crews are out looking for it.