Surfer bitten in fourth shark attack off Australia’s east coast

A surfer had minor injuries from being bitten by a shark on Tuesday in the fourth attack off the coast of Australia’s most populous State in three days. The shark attacked the man’s surfboard at Point Plomer, 460 kilometers (290 miles) north of the New South Wales state capital, around 9 am, officials said. The man was lucky to survive with minor cuts, Kempsey-Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club captain Matt Worrall said. “The board seemed to take most of the impact,” Worrall told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“He made his own way into shore where he was assisted by locals.” The bystanders drove the 39-year-old man to a hospital and he was later discharged. In the earlier attacks, a man and a boy suffered critical leg wounds and the surfboard of another boy was bitten by sharks at Sydney locations Sunday and Monday. Beaches along New South Wales’ northern coast and northern Sydney were closed Tuesday and local authorities said Sydney’s northern beaches would remain closed to swimmers and surfers for 48 hours.