Man in intensive care after shark attack in Caribbean

The man, named by local authorities as Peter Smith, 64, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was savaged 10 metres off the shore near the Starfish Hotel in Courland Bay, on the north coast of Tobago on Friday morning.

He sustained injuries to his left hand, left thigh and stomach following the attack involving a bull shark estimated to be three metres long and 60cm wide, the Tobago House of Assembly said.

Part of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago is a dual-island Caribbean country near Venezuela.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said in a Facebook press briefing on Friday evening the man had been holidaying on the island with his wife and friends and had been due to fly home that day.

Augustine said the man was stable and "doing well" but remained under sedation in an intensive care unit at Scarborough General Hospital.

"Some reattachments were done, of fingers for example, and hopefully that will save those fingers," he said.

"We know that there's significant wounds on one of his legs that cannot be completely closed, but he will require extensive work.

"The task at this time for our health professionals is really to stabilise and ensure that we can save life and limb as much as possible."

The local government was working closely with the British High Commission, Augustine said.

Several beaches and coastal areas were closed.

A $US10,000 ($A15,300) bounty previously offered to anyone who could capture the shark was later retracted.

There were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked shark bites worldwide in 2023, with 14 fatalities, the Florida-based International Shark Attack File says.

Australian Associated Press