Surfer mauled by shark

BALLINA – A surfer has undergone surgery at a Gold Coast Hospital after he was mauled by a shark off Australia’s NSW far north coast.

Sam Morgan was attacked at Lighthouse Beach in East Ballina on Tuesday evening but managed to make it back to the beach, where others came to his aid.

The 20-year-old suffered serious wounds to his left thigh and was flown to the Gold Coast University Hospital where he underwent surgery on Tuesday night.

He remains in a stable condition in an induced coma.

The Department of Primary Industries believes the shark was possibly a bull shark around 2.8 to 3.1 metres long.

At least 14 shark attacks have been recorded in NSW this year, including a serious attack on bodyboarder Mat Lee in July at the same beach and a fatality nearby, when Japanese surfer Tadashi Nakahara, 41, was killed at Shelly Beach on February 9.

Police have closed Lighthouse Beach for 24 hours and have been investigating the attack.

- AAP