Pro surfer attacked by shark at Australian beach in 'extremely rare' incident

Professional surfer Max Marsden was taken to hospital after being attacked by a shark at a Western Australian beach.

Fox Sports reports that the 30-year-old was bitten by what was believed to be a 1.5 metre Bronze Whaler at Lucy’s Beach in Geraldton, north of Perth.

The beach is inaccessible by car and so one of Marsden’s friends who was with him at the time helped him exit the beach.

The incident happened on Sunday (April 23) morning with the friend reporting the attack at around 7:30 am.

He was rushed to Geraldton Regional Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and was later discharged.

The report says he is now at home recovering and is in ‘good spirits’

@maxmarsden/Instagram.

The attack is being investigated by the state’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, however, it is being called an ‘extremely rare and isolated event’.

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn told the ABC: “In Geraldton, this is the first shark attack in quite some time.

“The location where the shark attack took place is a very isolated place, so any monitoring of it would probably be unfeasible.

"It is an extremely rare and isolated event and city staff have temporarily closed the beach for the time being, but it is unlikely to trigger any further actions."

The beach was closed for the rest of the day but re-opened on Monday.

Residents were told to ‘exercise caution and obey all warning signs and directions’.

Lucy’s Beach is popular for fishers and surfers but is not commonly used by swimmers due to dangerous rips.

It is described as ‘hazardou’s by the Beachsafe website.

Back in July 2015, fellow Australian and three-time world champion was attacked by a three-metre long shark while competing in Jeffreys in South Africa.

The incident was broadcast live on TV, showing Fanning pulled underwater for at least nine seconds.

The world champion spoke about the incident in 2018, where he told 60 Minutes: “I felt like I was peaking at the right time, [my] body was feeling good and yeah I was really excited.”

But that excitement soon turned to abject terror when the huge shark approached Fanning from behind, completely blindsiding him.

He said: "The shark just came. My board was sideways and the shark just came like that. It was, like, right there. The main dorsal fin was right there, and I could see the side fin and I could see where it goes from grey to white.

“That was when I was, like, ‘oh yeah, this is… this is really, really bad.”

Fanning somehow managed to fight off the shark, by punching it, and get himself back to safety.