Diver attacked by shark off Australia

SYDNEY: A commercial diver suffered "substantial" injuries after being attacked by a shark off remote Western Australia, officials said Tuesday.

The man, reportedly aged 55, was with a diving crew from Southern Wild Abalone when the shark struck off Poison Creek beach, east of the town of Esperance.

"Obviously, there has been some substantial injuries (as) with any encounter with a shark, but at this stage (the details are) still quite sketchy," the firm's owner Marcus Tromp told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"I understood that he was still conscious and in good hands as far as first aid goes," he added.

Another diver was in the area and came to assist the injured man's crew with first aid before he was transported to shore for treatment, Tromp said.

The ruggedness and remoteness of the area, in a wilderness park and accessible only by four-wheel drive, complicated his retrieval and transport by ambulance to Esperance, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the dive site.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service said it had dispatched a plane to collect the man from Esperance and take him to Perth for treatment.

It is the first shark attack reported in Australia since December 2012, when a paddle-boarder lost a finger and suffered a serious bite to his thigh at Diamond Head north of Sydney.