SYDNEY: Several beaches on Australia’s east coast remained closed on Sunday after a bodyboarder was seriously hurt in a shark attack, just weeks after two others were badly mauled at a nearby region.

A 38-year-old man was bodyboarding with a friend off Lighthouse Beach, about 400 kilometres north of Sydney, late on Saturday afternoon when he was attacked and suffered “life-threatening injuries”, New South Wales state police said.

He was treated at Port Macquarie Hospital for stomach and back wounds and was in a stable condition on Sunday morning, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The latest attack came less than a month after a 52-year-old surfer sustained serious arm and leg injuries after being bitten at Evans Head, about 350 kilometres north of Lighthouse Beach.

In the same area, a 32-year-old surfer’s legs were mauled by a shark in early July and in February, a 41-year-old Japanese surfer died after his legs were torn off in an attack.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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