A WOMAN HAS died in what appears to be New Zealand’s first fatal shark attack in eight years, police said.

Emergency services responded late yesterday afternoon to reports of a woman “injured in the water” at Waihi Beach, a popular tourist spot 153 kilometres’ drive south east of Auckland, a police statement said.

“Indications are that she had been injured by a shark,” police inspector Dean Anderson said.

She was dragged from the water with leg wounds and attempts to resuscitate her on the beach failed, media reported.

A doctor who was on holiday joined paramedics, lifeguards and emergency services personnel in attempting to save the woman, Anderson said.

He added the woman, whose identity has not been made public, was scheduled to undergo a post-mortem examination.

The last fatal shark attack in New Zealand was in February 2013 when a 46-year-old swimmer was mauled at Muriwai Beach, 41 kilometres west of Auckland.