A father-of-two has undergone further surgery after losing one of his legs in a shark attack on the NSW Mid North Coast.
Local surfer Toby Begg suffered severe injuries and significant blood loss when he was bitten by a 4m white shark on both legs at Watonga Rocks at Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie about 10am Friday, NSW Ambulance said.
Witnesses say the 44-year-old fought the shark for 30 seconds before swimming to shore with critical injuries.
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Begg was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital in a critical condition for emergency surgery. 7NEWS confirmed he lost at least one of his legs.
He was flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle on Friday evening when 7NEWS understands he underwent further surgery to try to save his other leg.
He remains in a critical but stable condition as of Saturday morning.
Police Chief Inspector Martin Burke said the local man was surfing with a group of six others about 150m offshore when he was bitten by what is believed to be a 4m long white shark in a “fairly sustained and prolonged attack”.
“The reports are the man has tried to fight this shark for up to 30 seconds and then swum himself to shore, where he has realised he’s sustained significant lower leg injuries,” he said on Friday.
7NEWS understands the surfers spotted the shark lurking below and caught a wave back to shore, but Begg failed to hop on.
Bystanders, including an off-duty emergency doctor, applied a tourniquet to his legs and performed first aid until paramedics arrived.
“The bystanders obviously did a remarkable job on the patient initially,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Joshua Smyth said.
Burke added: “I think the passersby and the members of the public and to have the absolute luck of having an emergency department doctor on scene are all going to be key things that are going to lend itself to giving this gentleman the best chance of survival.”
Lighthouse Beach was closed following the attack and is likely to remain shut for at least 24 hours, according to Port Macquarie ALS Lifeguards.
The beach remained closed as of Saturday morning.
“We hope and pray for a good outcome for the victim involved,” Port Macquarie ALS Lifeguards said.
It is understood the beach has four SMART drumlines used to detect sharks but this shark was not tagged.
– With Bill Hogan