An American man was killed today after a shark attack off Western Australia, authorities said.

Western Australia state police senior Sergeant Greg Trew said man’s friends helped him out of the water and in the process saw the shark.

“He floated to the surface and the shark was seen as they were leaving the area to come back into Thompson’s Bay,” Trew said.

The 32-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was on a work visa when fatal attack occurred off Rottnest Island, near Perth, authorities said.

An undated file photograph of a Great White Shark swimming. (Getty Images)

Other witnesses said the shark appeared to be a 10-foot great white, The Associated Press reported.

“Within an hour of that situation occurring the Fisheries Minister [Norman Moore] and the State Government authorised that the shark be caught and destroyed, if possible, and the fisheries officers are now attempting to do that,” Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

It is  unclear whether this is the same shark that is believed to have killed a 64-year-old man on Oct. 10 off Perth’s Cottesloe Beach, authorities told the AP.

ABC News Radio contributed to this report.