A 17-year-old surfer has "severe lacerations" after being attacked by a shark while surfing with friends in Ballina, Australia.
Cooper Allen was on the first day of the spring holiday when the attack happened at the New South Wales beach.
The shark tore into his hip and thigh, narrowly missing a major artery.
Teeth marks on the board suggest it was a great white between 2.5 and 3 metres in length, local police said.
However, Mr Allen's injuries could have been far worse had the shark not bitten into his surfboard first before sinking its teeth into his leg.
"Apparently the prime attack was on the board, so it took the brunt," Craig Nolan, president of Ballina Lighthouse and Lismore Surf Lifesaving, told ABC.
Mayor of Ballina, David Wright, said the shark had approached from behind, wrapping its jaws around the rear of the surfboard, with its teeth biting into the teenager's leg.
Fellow surfers helped him get back to the beach where off-duty nurses gave him first aid. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
New South Wales police chief inspector Nicole Bruce said a great white shark, spotted from the air after the attack, had been chased out to sea by lifeguards on jet skis.
No comments:
Post a Comment