Global Courant
SYDNEY A surfer is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a suspected great white shark at a popular surfing spot off Australia’s west coast on Monday.
The man, who is in his early 20s, was bitten while enjoying a morning surf near picturesque Gnarabup Beach south of Perth.
A spokesman for the Western Australia Country Health Service told Agence France-Presse the young man’s condition was stable on Monday evening.
Local authorities closed down beaches in the area “to ensure the safety of our community”, while 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 photographs on the newspaper’s website showing him arriving on a stretcher, sitting up and awake.
More than 100 of the world’s more than 370 shark species live in Western Australian waters – from the 12-inch dwarf shark to the world’s largest fish, the gentle whale shark, which can grow up to 40 feet in length.
According to the Taronga Conservation Society’s Australian Shark Incident Database, 16 fatal shark attacks have been recorded in waters off Western Australia since 2010, the most recent in February this year when a teenage girl died. AFP
