Man, 50s, hospitalised in Western Australia shark attack

A man in his 50s suffered a shark attack while surfing off the coast of Western Australia, according to local authorities. The incident occurred at Glenfield Beach, approximately 400 kilometers north of Perth, around 9:45am local time. The victim was rushed to the hospital with a serious but stable condition, reported the national broadcaster ABC.

Health officials have advised locals to exercise extra caution near the beach following the attack. Scientists suggest that the growing number of shark attacks may be attributed to the increasing number of people in the water and rising ocean temperatures, which could be altering shark migration patterns. In January, a 12-year-old boy died after a shark bite while swimming in Sydney Harbour, and three divers were fatally attacked in separate incidents between May and June - two in Western Australia and one in Queensland.

The same month also saw a woman, identified as a school teacher, attacked at a popular Sydney beach. She managed to hit the shark with a left hook before being dragged underwater and subsequently placed in an induced coma. She later underwent surgery where part of her left arm was amputated. Since 1791, there have been about 1,300 shark incidents in Australia, with more than 260 resulting in fatalities, as per a database tracking human-shark encounters.