Surfer survives great white shark attack in Australia
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More than 100 of the world’s 370-plus shark species live in Western Australian waters.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH
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Sydney - A surfer is recovering in hospital after being attacked by what is believed to be a great white shark at a popular surfing spot off Australia’s western coast on Monday.
The man, who is in his early 20s, was bitten while enjoying a morning surf near the picturesque Gnarabup Beach south of Perth.
A spokesman for the Western Australia Country Health Service told Agence France-Presse that the young man was in a stable condition as at Monday evening.
The local authorities closed beaches in the area “to ensure the safety of our community”, while the state authorities called on people to report shark sightings.
According to The West Australian newspaper, the surfer was helped by a nurse after he managed to reach a nearby cafe.
Other surfers took him to a local hospital, and he was later transferred to the larger Bunbury Regional Hospital, with photos on the newspaper’s website showing him arriving on a stretcher, sitting upright and awake.
More than 100 of the world’s 370-plus shark species live in Western Australian waters – from the 30cm pygmy shark to the world’s biggest fish, the gentle whale shark, which can grow up to 12m long.
According to the Taronga Conservation Society’s Australian Shark Incident Database, there have been 16 deadly shark attacks recorded in the waters off Western Australia since 2010, the most recent in February this year, when a teenage girl died. AFP
