SYDNEY (AP) — A man has used his surfboard to fend off a shark that bit him on his calf off an Australian beach two days after a fatal attack on the Great Barrier Reef.
The 43-year-old surfer was bitten Wednesday morning at Shelly Beach off Ballina in New South Wales state.
Ballina Shire Mayor David Wright said the surfer described the shark as about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. Wright told Sydney's 2GB radio the man came onshore, wrapped his leg and went to the hospital for treatment of a 20-centimeter (8-inch) wound.
Beaches in the area are expected to be closed for at least 24 hours.
On Monday, a shark killed a man in an island harbor in the Whitsunday Islands where two tourists were mauled in September.
