A woman was in a serious condition yesterday after being bitten by a shark off north-eastern Australia and losing several pints of blood.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Community Services said the woman, 60, had severe lacerations to her buttocks from the attack.

She was being transported by dive boat from Dent Island in the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland state to the Australia mainland where she was being airlifted to a hospital, the spokeswoman said.

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