Yves Berthelot, 50, was on a sailing weekend with his wife, Anne, and a group of friends in the south of the Pacific Island archipelago when the tragedy occurred.

Mr Berthelot, a French national who was the associate manager of OléCall, a call centre in New Caledonia's capital Noumea, was snorkelling in shallow water just metres from his catamaran on Saturday when he was bitten at least twice by a bull shark, reported Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, a daily French-language newspaper in the territory.

Friends pulled him from the water to find him bleeding heavily from his arm and groin.

"Most people on board were health workers, the first aid given was significant but the injuries were such that unfortunately there was not much that could be done," a military police spokesman told local radio on Sunday.

"It was really a savage and sudden attack."

Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes reported that Mr Berthelot and seven other people had hired the catamaran for a weekend sailing trip in the islands of the south, an area popular with holidaymakers.

The catamaran was anchored near the island of Kouaré. Mr Bethelot and two friends were snorkelling not far from their boat and only a "few dozen metres from shore" when he was attacked by a shark estimated to have been 3½ metres long.

A rescue helicopter was sent to the island, but Mr Berthelot had already died.

His wife was in shock and was being treated in hospital, the newspaper reported.

She posted on Facebook: "I lost the man of my life tonight", beneath a photograph of her husband.

The couple have a daughter, Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes reported.

Philippe Tirard, a shark expert who examined Mr Berthelot's injuries, told the newspaper that it was a particularly severe attack.

"He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no luck," Mr Tirard said.

New Caledonia, off north-eastern Australia, is a French overseas territory but formulates its own tax, labour laws and trade policy.

The sun-drenched island, which boasts the world's largest enclosed lagoon with magnificent coral, is a popular tourist destination.

- with AFP