SYDNEY, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A man has been hospitalized after he was attacked by a shark on Tuesday morning, in the fourth attack at beaches in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) within 48 hours.
Local media reported that the 39-year-old man was surfing with a group at a beach on NSW's Mid North Coast, over 300 km northeast of Sydney, when he was attacked around 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
The shark bit through the surfboard, but the man escaped serious injury and was taken to the hospital with minor cuts to one leg, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Steve Pearce, chief executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, told the ABC that the man was lucky to be alive.
Authorities have closed beaches along a 5 km stretch of the Mid North Coast in response to the attack and have deployed drones to search for the shark.
Every beach in northern Sydney was also closed on Tuesday following two shark attacks in the area on Monday and a third attack at a beach on the southern shore of Sydney Harbor on Sunday afternoon.
The victims of the second northern Sydney attack, a man aged in his 20s, and the Sydney Harbor attack, a 12-year-old boy, were both hospitalized with critical injuries. ■