Fourth shark attack in three days rocks Australia as authorities close beaches and deploy drumlines

A surfer in Australia escaped a shark attack with minor injuries on Tuesday, marking the fourth shark attack off the country’s most populous state in just three days.

The shark struck around 9 a.m. at Point Plomer, about 290 miles north of Sydney, damaging the 39-year-old man’s surfboard, officials said. The surfer suffered only minor cuts.

"The board seemed to take most of the impact," Matt Worrall, captain of the Kempsey–Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club, told Australian Broadcasting Corp.