Shark bites 2 British men on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

 A shark bit off a British tourist’s foot and mauled ar British tourist’s leg on Tuesday as men srkeled on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, officials said.

men d 22 and 28 h been on a srkeling tour in Whitsunday Islands when y were attacked, tour organizer ZigZag Whitsundays said. y were brought 11 kilometers (7 miles) by boat to mainland town of Airlie Beach where paramedics were waiting for m, Queensland state Ambulance Service spokeswoman Mel Mangan said. y were n flown by helicopter south to a hospital in city of Mackay in serious but stable conditions, RACQ CQ Rescue said.

“An English tourist has h his foot bitten off and ar has serious lacerations to his lower leg after a shark attack in Whitsundays today,” helicopter rescue service said in a statement. victims told helicopter crew “y were wrestling and thrashing about in water” in a pass between Hayman and Whitsunday Islands when y were attacked, statement said.

28-year-old man lost his foot, Mackay Base Hospital said in a statement. A shark killed a man in vember last year in a Whitsunday Island harbor where two tourists h been mauled a month earlier. 33-year-old victim h been diving from a pdleboard while on a yacht cruise.

spate of attacks in Whitsundays left authorities struggling to explain an apparent escalation in danger in internationally rewned vacation destination. In September last year, two Australian tourists were mauled on consecutive days, one a 12-year-old girl who lost a leg.