Shark attacks surfer at Australia's Byron Bay

'We didn't realise until we were on the beach that there was a big chunk taken out of his leg – there was a lot of blood'

A surfer in Australia has been airlifted to hospital after being attacked by a shark.

Sam Edwards, 41, had part of his left leg entirely bitten away by what experts say was probably a baby great white.

“We didn’t realise until we were on the beach that there was a big chunk taken out his leg – there was a lot of blood,” his housemate and fellow surfer Dane Davidson told Australia’s 9News after the incident in Byron Bay, New South Wales.

He added: “The shark … came up from underneath and knocked him clean off his board. There was a lot of thrashing and splashing. He started screaming.”

He said the pair had managed to paddle to safety before they used leg ropes – used to attach surfers to their boards – to make a tourniquet around the injured leg.

Six bystanders helped the pair apply first aid before Mr Edwards was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics and flown to Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

The bite to his thigh missed an artery by just millimetres, Daniel Willis from the ambulance service later said.

“The actions of those on the beach could be called heroic,” he added. “They have assisted in controlling the haemorrhage.”

Belongil Beach, where the attack occurred on Sunday, and nearby Main Beach have now been closed for 24 hours.

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Primary Industry told ABC that scientists believe a juvenile great white shark may have attacked the man.

The Taronga Conservation Society Australia says there were 27 shark attacks in Australia last year, one of them fatal. Nine of the attacks took place in New South Wales, according to its Australian Shark Attack File.