Surfer flown to hospital after South Australia shark attack

Man suffers leg wound less than two weeks after a boy was killed by a suspected great white shark on the Yorke Peninsula

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A surfer has been flown to hospital after being bitten by a shark off the South Australian coast.

The 65-year-old man was bitten on the leg after a shark attack that occurred about 200m offshore near Elliston, on the SA west coast.

He presented himself to the local hospital with a leg wound on Tuesday, said a spokesperson for SA Ambulance.

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A plane had been sent to retrieve him and bring him back to Royal Adelaide hospital for further treatment.

The incident comes just 12 days after a teenage boy was killed by a shark off the coast of Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula, west of Adelaide.

Khai Cowley, 15, was remembered after his death as a talented and dearly loved member of the surfing community.

Late last year, a series of shark incidents resulted in the state government issuing a snap ban on school trips to the beach, including after one incident where a shark bit a 32-year-old woman on the head, leaving her with serious but non life-threatening injuries, while three school groups were present at the beach.

There were three fatal shark attacks in South Australia last year.

Shark attacks in Australia are relatively rare, with an average of 12.5 incidents occurring a year over the past decade. Fatalities have decreased since the 1990s.

Many shark species that live in Australian waters are protected.

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