A surfer says she was told to gather sticks for a makeshift tourniquet for the man attacked by a shark at Lighthouse Beach on Friday morning, August 25.
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An emergency doctor who was among those also surfing near Watonga Rocks just before 10am, gave the direction as he and another surfer dragged the bleeding man to shore.
A mother and daughter on the beach called emergency services. The man, believed to be in his 40s,was rushed to Port Macquarie Base Hospital in a critical condition with injuries to his upper and lower leg.
Surfer Loren Enfield was out on the waves not far from the man when the attack happened.
"It was awful, you wouldn't want to see it happen to anyone," she said. "I never want to see it happen again.
"It was big."
Ms Enfield said surfers came to the man's aid.
"There was an ED doctor present and another guy... so he was in the best [hands] he could have gotten from a really really good surfing community," Ms Enfield said.
"Everyone probably got him in on the shore within three minutes max of the attack."
Ms Enfield paddled to the beach as soon as she saw the attack to phone for help and then asked the mother and daughter to call emergency services.
"I just came in saying 'have you got a phone, we need a phone, we need an ambulance,'" she said.
"And she rang them; she did all that."
Mid North Coast Lifeguard Coordinator James Turnham said the man was taken to hospital "under police escort".
"There were a lot of surfers here at the time who assisted with first aid until the paramedics arrived," he said. "The patient was taken to hospital under police escort.
"With shark incidents things happen quite quickly and it's only a matter of minutes to give someone first aid and that all happened quite quickly."
Mr Turnham said it's been a number of years since a shark attack at Lighthouse Beach.
"I can't remember the particular year but at this particular beach it has been quite a while, maybe close to 10 years, but the location was very close to where we are today."
Surf Lifesaving NSW said beaches in the area will remain closed for at least 24 hours.
The Australian Lifeguard Service supervisor and team have erected signage at the location to warn people to stay out of the water.
A Surf Life Saving NSW drone operator is on site and will be conducting surveillance flights to monitor any shark activity in the area.
Surf Lifesaving NSW said they were unsure of the type of shark involved at this stage and experts from the Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) have begun investigating.
