Man bitten by shark at Shelly Beach in East Ballina, presents himself to hospital
A SURFER repeatedly battered a 1.5 metre long shark with his board after being mauled in waters off Ballina on the NSW north coast before driving himself to hospital.
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A SURFER is in hospital after repeatedly bashing a 2.6 metre Great White with his board near Ballina on the Far North Coast of NSW.
Traumatised, Lee Jonsson, 43, drove himself to Ballina Hospital with a towel wrapped around a bleeding 20cm cut on his calf after escaping the juvenile shark and clambering to the shores of Shelly Beach in East Ballina this morning at 7am.
Onlookers say the stunned surfer screamed for help as the shark sank its teeth into his leg and repeatedly tried to drag him off the board, piercing it clean through with three-inch teeth marks.
The surfer was later transferred to Lismore Hospital where he was treated and is said to be in a stable condition.
Ballina Shire mayor David Wright said the surfer put up a brave fight which saved his life.
“It grabbed him on the leg and pulled him off the board. He used the board to belt the shark away,” Mr Wright said.
“He came onshore, wrapped his leg up and went to Ballina Hospital.
“He’s now been transferred to Lismore Hospital. He’s got an eight inch (20cm) cut on his calf.”
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Beaches around the Ballina area have been closed for at least 24 hours after NSW Surf Life Saving deployed drones and jet skis to survey the waters.
Officers from the Department of Primary Industries, responsible for shark management, said the surfer’s board was pierced with holes.
Shark nets at Shelly Beach and four others on the north coast were removed in May after a nearly five-month NSW government trial.
The attack comes almost four years after Japanese surfer Tadashi Nakahara was killed by a shark on the same beach.
It also follows the death of Melbourne man Daniel Christidis, who was mauled by a shark at Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands on Monday.
Mr Christidis, 33, was sharing a paddle board with a female friend in Cid when he was attacked about 5.35pm on Monday, and suffered severe injuries to his left thigh, right calf and left wrist.
He was given immediate first aid from the group of doctors and medical practitioners he was with, and flown to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition.
He was pronounced dead in hospital.
“Daniel was a great surgeon, son, brother and friend, who dedicated his life to helping others,” the Christidis family said in a statement.
“He illuminated the room with his charisma and deep empathy for his patients and others.
“Words cannot describe how our family and the community have been impacted by this tragic loss.”
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