Authorities closed a Santa Barbara county beach after a surfer died in a shark attack on Tuesday. Francisco Javier Solorio Jr., 39, was surfing off Surf Beach near Vandenberg Air Force Base when he was bitten in the torso by what experts say was likely a great white. A friend who witnessed the attack brought him to shore and attempted to give him first aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Local authorities say there has been a recent increase in shark sightings in the area. “In the fall, there are more juvenile great whites migrating up from Baja, going up north,” said Nigella Hillgarth, the executive director at the Birch Aquarium. In October 2010, a 19-year-old bodyboarder was killed in a similar attack off the same beach.
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