A surfer is fighting for his life after being mauled by a shark off a beach south of Perth in Western Australia.
It's believed Ben Gerring has lost a leg above the knee.
Mr Gerring's friend, Mandurah Boardriders Club president Brian Williams told the ABC he had just paddled further out into the ocean to catch a bigger wave when "all hell broke loose".
SHARK ATTACK: Ben Gerring fighting for life after being mauled by a shark. Updates all morning on @sunriseon7 #sun7 pic.twitter.com/ltbJsL0zMR
— Amelia Broun (@ameliabroun7) May 31, 2016
Fellow surfers pulled him from the water after the 29-year-old was attacked at Falcon Beach, a popular surfing spot just before 4pm yesterday.
"I paddled out to them, they needed a hand and that's when I saw this fellow, he was very pale, they had him propped up on a surfboard paddling in, there was about 100m to go so we got him all the way ashore and then applied CPR," Ian Barker told reporters.
Local reporter Nathan Hondros told Nine that Mr Gerring was unconscious when he was brought ashore and had lost his leg from above the knee.
"It was just terrible to watch. There were a lot of distressed people on the beach."
Paramedics worked on the mine worker on the beach for about 20 minutes before he was transferred to a waiting ambulance and taken to Peel Health Campus 13km away.
He was later transferred 80km to the State Trauma Centre, accompanied by his mother.
Royal Perth Hospital's chief executive Dr Margaret Sturdy last night described Mr Gerring's injury "as a significant shark bite and is getting a lot of medical input."
A Falcon Bay Beach Cafe worker told AAP that two men rushed in asking for ice, saying someone's leg had been bitten off.
The beach was closed from Falcon Bay to Westview Parade, including Yeedong Bay, after the attack.
Surf Life Saving WA tweeted earlier in the day that there was a public report of a 3.5-metre white shark sighted shortly before 8am (local time) at Pyramids Beach in nearby Dawesville, about 1.8km offshore.
The last shark attack in the state was in October, when there were two incidents that resulted in minor injuries.
A grey nurse shark was probably responsible for biting 18-year-old Eli Zawadzki on the foot while he was surfing at Pyramids Beach in Dawesville.
Later that same month, a man was bitten by a shark off the state's southern coast in Albany while diving from a boat and spearfishing, suffering minor injuries.
