A father-of-two has lost at least one of his legs after being mauled by a 4m white shark in Port Macquarie.
Witnesses say the 44-year-old local surfer, Toby Begg, fought the shark for 30 seconds before swimming to shore with critical injuries on Friday morning.
The father-of-two suffered severe injuries and significant blood loss when he was bitten on both legs at Lighthouse Beach about 10am, Ambulance NSW said.
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Police Chief Inspector Martin Burke said the local man was surfing with a group of six others about 150m offshore when he was bitten by what is believed to be a 4m long white shark in a “fairly sustained and prolonged attack”.
“The reports are the man has tried to fight this shark for up to 30 seconds and then swum himself to shore, where he has realised he’s sustained significant lower leg injuries,” he said.
7NEWS understands the surfers spotted the shark lurking below and caught a wave back to shore, but the victim failed to hop on.
The victim was transported to Port Macquarie Base Hospital, where he was reported to be in a critical condition following emergency surgery. 7NEWS has confirmed he has lost at least one of his legs.
Bystanders, including an off-duty emergency doctor, applied a tourniquet to his legs and performed first aid until paramedics arrived.
“The bystanders obviously did a remarkable job on the patient initially,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Joshua Smyth said.
Burke added: “I think the passersby and the members of the public and to have the absolute luck of having an emergency department doctor on scene are all going to be key things that are going to lend itself to giving this gentleman the best chance of survival.”
Lighthouse Beach was closed following the attack and is likely to remain shut for at least 24 hours, according to Port Macquarie ALS Lifeguards.
“We hope and pray for a good outcome for the victim involved,” it said.
It is understood the beach has four SMART drumlines used to detect sharks but this shark was not tagged.
– With Bill Hogan