Jul 2, (Emirates 247): A man suffered multiple injuries in a shark attack off the North Carolina coast on Wednesday, officials said, the latest in a series in the US state.

The 68-year-old victim was able to swim to shore despite suffering "several bites to his rib cage, hip, lower leg and both hands," Hyde County, on the southeast coast, said in a statement.

The incident happened around midday at the picturesque Ocracoke Island and the shark was six to seven feet long (about two meters).

The man was flown to a nearby hospital for urgent treatment, Hyde County said, adding it would have two ambulances primed for the busy July 4 holiday weekend, when visitors are expected to pack beaches.

"The news spread really quickly and everyone ran out of the water when they heard what happened," North Carolina resident Lynette Holman, who was vacationing on Ocracoke with her husband, told NBC.

There have now been seven shark attacks off the North Carolina coast in the past month, including when a teenage girl had part of her arm torn off, while a boy was also badly injured in a separate shark attack.