British tourist fighting for his life after being attacked by shark near shore

A British tourist is in a critical condition after being attacked by a shark.

Peter Smith, 64, was in Tobago, in the Caribbean, when he was attacked just 10 metres from the shore at Turtle Beach.

A British man has been attacked by a shark (Mark Chivers/Getty Images)

The incident has prompted the immediate closure of beaches along the northwestern coast of the island, after witnesses claimed the creature was a bull shark up to 10 feet long.

Smith is now receiving care at the Scarborough General Hospital after suffering a severed thigh and hand as well as a laceration on his stomach.

According to witnesses, Smith was waist-deep in the water.

Stephanie Wright, from West Sussex, told The Sun: "We saw some people on the beach, and I originally thought the gentleman had had a cardiac arrest, and I thought they were helping him.

"And then I saw someone running down with a towel, and then I saw a dorsal fin come out of the water and thought, 'Oh my God, it's a shark.'

"As it turned, I saw the tail come out as well. As it swam off."

The government has said that there have been shark sightings in both the Grafton area of the region and in the Buccoo Reef Marine Park.

Closing the beaches will allow the Coast Guard and Department of Fisheries to investigate the sightings.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of an injured British man in Tobago and are in contact with the local authorities."

The man is in hospital following the incident (Stephen Frink/Getty Images)

We recently told you about a man who filmed a harrowing shark attack.

Back in 2018, a man named Dan White came across a whitetip shark.

He was in Egypt, completing his deep diver certification, when it swam its way over to its diving group.

Thinking it was a ‘cool encounter’, White decided to start filming it, having come across three of the sharks very recently ‘with no trouble at all’.

But as the horrifying clip on YouTube shows, things took a terrible turn.

Several German drivers who were swimming in the same area joined with White’s group and then the shark’s behaviour began to change.

White told Tracking Sharks: “As I was filming I noticed that one of the outlet diver’s bubbles spooked the shark and it turned to investigate."

Dan retold the scary encounter to the BBC’s Why Sharks Attack: “It bit into the diver's leg, latched on, thrashed around and ended up going over almost like a cartwheel.

“It was crazy, it wouldn't let go for what felt like forever. It ended up tearing his calf muscle completely off his leg.”

The man was rushed to hospital and luckily, didn't need to have his leg amputated.