There was another shark attack off the coast of Réunion Island this afternoon, though fortunately on this occasion neither life nor limbs were lost. The surfer’s wounds are nonetheless thought to be serious.

This time the incident occurred at world-famous left-hander St Leu, once the site of a world tour event back in 2005 — won, in fact, by Mick Fanning.

According to South African magazine Zig Zag, the surfer in question — identified so far only as Rudolph — was paddling back in through the channel when he was bitten on the forearm, sustaining “pretty deep” wounds. The local surfer Zig Zag spoke to said this was the first decent swell to hit the island for a fortnight — the waves today were “4-5ft and glassy” — and this was their first session back. Seven surfers are thought to have been in the water altogether (see below).

A year ago to the day there was another attack at the very same spot. Two lives have been lost already this year off the island, and this latest attack is the eighteenth since 2011.

More details from Zig Zag here, or for our French-speaking readers: