Hunt for shark in NSW after bodyboarder mauled

Hunter Treschl.

Surf lifesavers on jetskis combed the waters in northern New South Wales to find a shark that mauled a bodyboarder, leaving him fighting for his life.

And a seventh person in North Carolina has been bitten by sharks in what is becoming an unprecedented wave of attacks on tourist beaches.

The search in Australia came as media organisations tweeted photos of what appears to be a large shark reportedly spotted near the scene of the attack.

A 32-year-old local man is critically injured in Gold Coast Hospital after being pulled from the water at Lighthouse Beach in Ballina, suffering serious injuries to his lower legs. He was with two mates at the beach when he was bitten. Emergency services attended to him on the scene and he was airlifted to hospital.

All beaches within Ballina Shire will be closed for the next 24 hours. People on boats, jetskis and helicopters are searching for the shark.

The Oz Grom Surfing Competition is due to be held today, where 270 young surfers are set to compete.

Ballina Mayor David Wright said the council would meet with Surf Lifesaving NSW and police about whether the beaches would have to remain closed and what impact that would have on the surf carnival. There have been two fatal attacks in the area in the past seven years.

In the United States, a 68-year-old man was bitten on his hands and leg as he swam off the shore of Ocracoke Island. He is the seventh person attacked since the start of June, fuelling calls for authorities to close some of North Carolina's beaches ahead of the holiday weekend in the US.

The spate of attacks began last month when a teenage girl escaped with only minor injuries and damage to her surfboard. But it escalated on June 14 when 16-year-old Hunter Treschl had his left arm bitten off.

An hour later a 12-year-old girl also lost her left arm in a separate attack a few kilometres away. Since then a small boy, an 18-year-old male and a grown man have all suffered injuries.

George Burgess, director of the Florida Programme for Shark Research, said the bites were unlikely to be the work of a single animal. "This isn't a Jaws situation."