A surfer who was attacked by a shark at Bombo Beach last night is in a critical but stable condition. 22-year-old Brett Connellan was surfing Bombo, which is immediately north of Kiama on the NSW south coast, around 7pm when the shark struck.

The shark bit his upper left thigh and also his hand. “He had lost a large proportion of his left thigh, and the quad muscle was torn away right down to the bone,” Ambulance NSW district officer Inspector Terry Morrow told the Illawarra Mercury. Aside from the injuries to his thigh and hand Connellan also suffered a fracture to his left leg.

Connellan's mate, Joel Trist, paddled 50 metres to his aid when he heard Connellan screaming. “The first thing I saw was Brett getting thrashed around in the water and a terrible scream and acting on instinct I paddled as hard as I could towards him and actually lost sight of him at one stage as a wave was breaking over him,” Trist told The Daily Telegraph this morning.

“I said to him ‘what’s it like’ and he said ‘it’s not good’ and at that point I knew something was horribly wrong.”

Trist managed to get him to shore on the back of his board where he applied an arterial torniquet using his own legrope. Ambulance NSW district officer Inspector Terry Morrow commended Trist's quick thinking. “He could’ve bled to death before we arrived on scene. He was very lucky the members of the public were there and acted as they did. They saved his life, to tell you the truth.”

After applying the makeshift tourniquet Trist assured his mate everything would be OK. “I was pleading with him to stay with me, at that stage he was fading in and out of consciousness with the loss of blood and shock of what had happened,” Mr Trist said.

“I just kept saying ‘mate stay with me, I’m here, help is coming’.”

Sydney doctor Nathan Trist praised his brother on Twitter: “So proud of my brother for paddling 50 metres, getting Brett to shore and putting leg rope tourniquet on,” he wrote.

Connellan told emergency services he didn’t see the shark when it attacked him. He was given a blood transfusion and treated for pain on scene before being airlifted to St George Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

At this stage it's not known what type of shark was repsonivble though tests will be carried out today.

Brett Connellan lives in Kiama Downs and is the shop manager of DP Surfboards in Thirroul.