World Surf League event in New Zealand halted after photographer bitten by sea creature

The World Surf League event in New Zealand was abruptly halted on finals day after a photographer was bitten by a sea creature.

The photographer was attacked just before 8.30am while documenting the men’s semi-finals at the New Zealand Pro, held near Raglan on the west coast of the North Island. The competition was halted 10 minutes in and Brazilian surfers Yago Dora and Italo Ferreira were extracted from the water on jet skis.

“It’s the first time we have activated code red,” Renato Hickel, vice president of tours and competition, said on the WSL broadcast. “This time it was our beloved water photographer and thank God he’s in good spirits. He’s well considering what happened.”

Hickel said the photographer had suffered minor puncture wounds from a bite and was heading to hospital.

“At this stage we are not certain if it was a shark or a sea lion – the doctor on the scene was inclined to think it was a sea lion – nevertheless, very scary.”

Organisers were in “constant communication” with the photographer, who was in a stable condition.

The event was put on hold until further assessments were made.

“The safety of our staff and competitors are our priority, and we will provide updates as further information becomes available,” WSL said in a statement.

Organisers were looking to resume Dora and Ferreira’s heat just after midday on Monday.

“Italo and Yago are obviously shaken, they saw the splash and the incident, so another reason to put the event on hold.”

The New Zealand Pro is the largest surf event New Zealand has hosted and hundreds of spectators lined Manu Bay to watch the competition. Attacks on surfers and swimmers in the region are extremely rare.