Competition has been halted on the final day of the World Surf League's New Zealand Pro at Raglan after a photographer was bitten by unidentified sea life.
WSL tours and competition vice president Renato Hickel confirmed the photographer had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
"We activate the code red when it’s a sea life attack on a surfer or a photographer. This time it was our beloved water photographer and thank God he’s in good spirits. He’s well considering what happened,” Hickel said on the WSL broadcast.
“He has small puncture wounds and he’s already in the ambulance on his way to hospital. We’ve put the event on hold and we’re going into a low tide so the next call we’re going to assess when to resume this heat between Yago and Italo will be at 12 noon for a possible 12.35pm start."
He said he was unsure whether the animal involved was a sea lion or a shark, though he added the doctor was " inclined to think it was a sea lion instead of a shark".
The event was placed on hold, with a resumption time of 12.30pm at the earliest.
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