Surfer attacked by shark on Cabarita Beach, NSW
Brad Ross hit the waves on Monday at Cabarita Beach, south of the Queensland border, when a reported four-metre great white lunged at him just after 8am.
Video captured by a local filming the ocean, and later shared to Facebook, showed Mr Ross suddenly thrashing in the water close to the shore, before he appeared to go. Seconds later the surfer emerged.
In one photo of Mr Ross in the aftermath of the incident, he held up his surfboard, revealing the huge shark bite that had broken it in two.
Other swimmers and surfers, including a child, were stunned at the sight.
In a statement to news.com.au, Surf Live Saving NSW said the Far North Coast beach has been closed following the incident.
'Just after 8am this morning (Monday 18 August) the Surf Life Saving NSW State Operations Centre (SOC) was alerted to an incident at the unpatrolled Cabarita Beach which was called in through Triple 0,' a spokesman said.
'The surfer is unharmed. Australian Lifeguard Service lifeguards were tasked and immediately worked with Council to close the beach and put up signage to warn the public not to enter the water.'
It deployed aerial assets to survey the scene.
According to SharkSmart, a NSW government program that tracks tagged sharks and provides real time information, a five-metre great white was caught and released from a SMART drumline at Norries Headland – in Cabarita – just before 10am on Monday.
Video and photos of Mr Ross' run-in have since gone viral online.
'Omg how did he not lose a leg?' one person wrote.
'Big bite, big shark. One lucky surfer,' another Facebook user added.
'Buy a lottery ticket,' a woman said.
American surfing champion Kelly Slater also chimed in, saying it is 'incredible he's OK'.
'Great example of why I fear open ocean swimming so much. Surfboards have saved quite a few surfers with that tiny barrier,' he wrote on Instagram.
Cabarita local Alex Kaczmarek said it was not uncommon to see sharks in the area around winter.
'It's fairly normal this time of year to have increased shark activity in this region; the humpback whales migrate north to birth their calves, the great whites (& other species) follow them & wait for their return trip. It's brutal, but, that's nature,' he wrote online.
'I mostly swim at patrolled beaches during this period for the above reasons. Poor little shark thought he was getting a tasty treat, ends up with a mouth full of fibreglass splinters lol.'
It comes just weeks after a 16-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was bitten by a shark on the same beach while swimming with his brother.
The boy was mauled late on a Sunday afternoon in June, leaving him with what paramedics described as 'traumatic' wounds to his right arm and leg.
He was pulled to safety by other surfers, with shocking video taken from a headland showing a shark circling the group as they returned to shore.
Bystanders, including an off-duty paramedic, provided first aid before an ambulance arrived to rush him to a Gold Coast hospital.
The beach was also shut down after the attack at the time.
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