Surfer survives attack by 'four-metre white shark' at Bunker Bay in Western Australia

A man in his 20s is being flown to hospital after he was attacked by a great white shark at a popular surfing spot about 200km south of Perth.

The surfer was bitten on the leg at Bunker Bay, near the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, and the extent of his injuries is not yet known, a St John Ambulance WA spokeswoman told the Guardian.

Two ambulance crews attended the beach and the man will be flown to a Perth hospital on a rescue helicopter, the ambulance service said.

Western Australia police said they were aware of the reported shark attack.

The state’s department of primary industries said in a statement “a male surfer received injuries after being bitten by a reported 4m white shark at approximately 2.15pm” on Friday.

Fisheries officers were are onsite conducting beach patrols and the RAC helicopter was conducting aerial surveillance, the department said. City of Busselton rangers have closed the beach.

There has been a spate of shark attacks in Australia in 2020 including five fatalities.

In mid-July, a teenager died while surfing at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, off northern NSW.

Earlier in the month, a 36-year-old Sunshine Coast man died after being mauled while spearfishing off Queensland’s Fraser Island.

The Gold Coast surfer Rob Pedretti, 60, died after he was attacked at Salt Beach at South Kingscliff in northern NSW in June.

A shark also killed the 23-year-old Queensland wildlife ranger Zachary Robba in April off North West Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef.

Experienced diver Gary Johnson, 57, was killed by a shark near Cull Island in Esperance on Western Australia’s south coast in January.