SPATE OF ATTACKS

Surfer Bitten by Shark as Terrifying Attacks Lead to Beach Closures

Heavy rain is suspected to have triggered the spate of maulings.

A single state in Australia has suffered its fourth shark attack in three days after a surfer was bitten in the chest. Police said a 39-year-old man was mauled in New South Wales’s Mid North Coast on Tuesday morning after it bit his board. He has since been released from the hospital, with Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steve Pearce telling ABC, he was “very fortunate to not have sustained any serious injuries.” NSW Superintendent Joseph McNulty described the situation off the coast of Australia’s most populous state as a “perfect storm environment”, with two people left in critical conditions after torrential rainfall may have washed nutrients into the water, drawing in sharks’ prey. Authorities are now pleading with people to stay out of the water. Among the victims is a 12-year-old boy, who was left in a critical condition with bites on both his legs. He was dragged from the water by his friends after being attacked while rock jumping in the eastern suburb of Vaucluse on Sunday. A man was then left in a critical condition at Manly Beach on the city’s northern shore on Monday, while an 11-year-old surfer also escaped without injury after his board was bitten at Dee Why Beach the same day.