A man has been bitten in a shark attack at a picturesque remote beach 1200km north of Perth, just days after locals had been warned of increased danger.
Ambulance services raced to Fourteen Mile Beach, on Western Australia‘s northwest coast, to reports of the shark attack about 11am on Monday.
They found a male victim who had been mauled by an unknown species of shark and rushed him to a nursing post for treatment at Coral Bay, about 40km north.
A WA Country Health Service spokesperson confirmed the victim is in a stable condition.
It came just hours after authorities issued a warning about sharks in the area following the discovery of a whale carcass off nearby Point Cloates.
Parks and Wildlife Service officers advised beachgoers in the Point Cloates area to be wary of taking to the water as the carcass could attract sharks.
Swimmers near Fourteen Mile Beach have now also been urged to ‘take additional caution’ when near the coast and to ‘be aware of any signage and beach closures’.
Just 10 minutes prior to the attack, a shark estimated to be about 4m-long of an unknown species was spotted off the coast of Exmouth, according to SharkSmart.
More to follow
A man has been rushed to hospital after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Fourteen Mile Beach, south of Coral Bay in WA (pictured), about 11am on Monday
The species of shark involved in the attack is not yet known but a whale carcass known to attract sharks had been spotted nearby just hours earlier