Canberra, Nov 11 (IANS): An Australian surfer was attacked by a shark on Sunday. The surfer, in his 20s, was on a bodyboard off Pyramids Beach, south of Perth, when he was attacked, reports Xinhua news agency. He was flown to a hospital and "suffered traumatic injuries to a foot and ankle", ambulance services were quoted as saying.

The beach was closed after the attack. Sunday's incident comes after a spate of shark attacks off the country's coasts, including the death of a 33-year-old man near Cid Harbor at the Whitsunday Islands tourist area in Queensland state earlier this month. In September, a 12-year-old girl lost her leg and a 46-year-old woman suffered serious leg injuries in separate shark attacks in the same area.

Last week, a man was also taken to hospital with calf injuries after fighting off a shark with his surfboard in New South Wales state. Authorities were laying out advanced electronic drum lines along nearly 300 km of coastline off Western Australia's most popular beaches as part of latest measures to deal with shark attacks and keep the predators away from swimmers.