Shark attack kills Venezuelan man after boat capsizes near Aruba

Two other men died as their boat sank off Aruba in the Caribbean

File image of a shark (Getty Images)

A man who boat capsized off the coast of a Caribbean island has been killed in a shark attack moments before he would have been rescued.

The victim was one of seven Venezuelan men thrown into the sea off Aruba when their trip to sell goods on the small island nation went disastrously wrong.

According to the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, rescuers had reached the group and the man was clinging to a rescue boy when the attack happened.

Roderick Gouverneur, a spokesman for the coast guard, told The Associated Press the shark struck as a rescuer suspended from a helicopter tried to reach him.

Bonaire is also known as the Caribbean Netherlands. Both it and Aruba lie off the coast of Venezuela (Google)

The man was pulled out of the water and taken to hospital, but died on the way.

Two other men drowned in the incident, while four others who held onto items of debris were rescued and are recovering from dehydration.

The men were sailing from Bonaire, a Dutch island municipality near Venezuela, and carrying a cargo of whiskey when the boat capsized.

Additional reporting by agencies