Surfer mauled by shark swims to shore despite injuries to both legs

PERTH, Australia — A surfer mauled by a shark Monday off southwestern Australia managed to swim to shore despite serious injuries to both his legs, an official and a witness said.

Alejandro Travaglini was surfing at Gracetown around 8 a.m. when he was attacked, St. John Ambulance spokesman Dennis Bertoldo said. The Argentinian-born 37-yearold was treated on the beach by paramedics before he was flown by helicopter 160 miles to a hospital in the city of Perth, Bertoldo said.

The hospital described the victim’s condition as stable.

The attack prompted the World Surf League to postpone the nearby Margaret River Pro international surfing contest for about an hour.

Organizers had deployed additional shark-spotting drones and jet skis when the competition resumed to ensure competitors’ safety, league deputy commissioner Jessi MileyDyer said.

“We wanted to reconvene and make sure we had everything possible in the water to look after those surfers,” Miley-Dyer said in a statement on the league’s website.

Surf photographer Peter Jovic watched the attack from the beach and likened it to the live broadcast of a shark attack in South Africa in 2015. Former champion surfer Mick Fanning escaped unscathed when a great white attacked his board as he waited to catch a wave.