Two surfers were bitten by sharks in separate incidents just hours apart Sunday morning in Western Australia near a World Surf League competition.
Alejandro Travaglini, 37, was bitten on both legs by around 8 a.m. at Cobblestone Beach and managed to bodysurf back to shore, where people at the scene used the rope on the board as a tourniquet until emergency personnel arrived a few minutes later, according to The Guardian.
"I just want to thank all the legends who helped me up the beach," Travaglini told ABC News.
Travaglini was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he is recovering in the trauma unit, according to ABC News.
A few hours later, Justin Longrass, 41, unaware of the earlier attack, entered a closed beach a few miles away from the morning incident, thinking he was lucky to find it so empty, according to The Guardian.
Instead, he was bitten by a 13-foot great white shark. He pushed it off his board and swam back to shore, according to The Guardian. Longrass was treated at the scene by paramedics, according to ABC News.
The second attack was close enough to the Margaret River Pro surfing competition to postpone the event an hour before resuming with enhanced safety measures including drones.
“We are confident, we wouldn't have resumed if we didn't feel that way," World Surf League (WSL) commissioner Kieren Perrow told ABC News."Surfer safety is the foremost of our minds."
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