The family of a 16-year-old boy, killed in a shark attack in northern New South Wales have spoken out about their devastation over the loss of "their baby".
16-year-old Peter Edmonds was fatally attacked by a large shark while bodyboarding at Ballina's Lighthouse Beach this morning.
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.
Peter's bodyboarding companion, Brock Curtis says he helped his friend back to shore following the shark attack.
Brock says he tried in vain to resuscitate Peter after dragging him to shore.
He says they've been close friends for five years, since the start of high school.
Channel 10 reporter Max Futcher was at Ballina and said the extent of the boys injuries were 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 sorts of injuries.”
Peter’s 20-year-old sister Kylie Edmonds says the family's finding it hard to cope with the sudden loss.
Peter's mother Lisa Edmonds has told the Ten Network, her son had been on the brink of adulthood.
“He was such a loving boy, and just in the last few months he really started to become an adult,” Lisa Edmonds said.
And his father Neil Edmonds has expressed disbelief that his son had died from his injuries, saying the bite didn't appear that severe.
Photo courtesy of Network 10