CAPE TOWN (AFP) - A man was killed by a shark on Friday in South Africa while snorkeling off a popular southern surfing town, rescuers said.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said a volunteer rescue crew was dispatched at 0930 GMT after reports of a shark incident in Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape region.

"On arrival on-scene remains of a body, believed to be those of an adult male, have been recovered from the water and handed into the care of the police and the forensic pathology services," it said.

According to eyewitnesses, the man had been snorkeling at the time of the attack.

"Just saw NSRI carry the body of a shark attack victim in bag. Hectic man.

No surfing today," tweeted one local.

Last year there were four shark attacks in South Africa, three of them fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History.