Man survives mystery attack

A MAN is lucky to be alive after being attacked — possibly by a shark — on an early morning swim at one of Sydney’s most famous northern beaches.

Peter Schultz — a member of Manly’s Bold and Beautiful swim squad — was swimming before dawn with three friends from Manly to Shelly Beach about 5.30am yesterday when he thought he had been bitten.

Mr Schultz managed to reach rocks and raise the alarm.

“Somebody was yelling, ‘he’s been attacked by something’,” fellow swimmer and friend Ken Murphy said. “We all came in and immediately commenced first aid on him.”

Mr Murphy — a lifeguard and firefighter — and passersby helped treat Mr Schultz before paramedics arrived. He suffered puncture wounds to his torso and injuries to his leg and stomach.

“He is extremely lucky — this could have been a lot more serious than it was,” NSW Ambulance Acting Inspector Andrew Wood said.

“He was in relatively good spirits considering he had just been attacked by something while he was swimming.”

Mr Schultz, who is believe to be in his 50s, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he remained in a stable condition.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries has been contacted to determine what attacked him.

Surf Living Saving NSW deployed a drone but did not find a shark in the area in the hours after the attack.

Manly Beach and Shelly Beach will remain closed until at least this morning.

Mr Murphy said none of the swimmers knew what had bitten Mr Schultz, noting that nothing like it had happened before.

“He was a great patient — we were a bit jovial with him to get his mind off what had happened,” he said.

“We’d really like to thank the members of the public that were there to assist us.”