A witness has described the frantic moments after a boy was bitten by a shark in waters off the Cape Range National Park near Exmouth, in WA's north.
Archie Blake, 11, was on holiday with his family from Tasmania when the incident occurred.
He was snorkelling in water not far from the shore when he was bitten on the leg.
Archie's injuries are not believed to be life-threatening and he is in a stable condition in Perth Children's Hospital.
The incident occurred in waters off the Kurrajong Campground, about 1,300 kilometres north of Perth.
In a crowd-funding page set up for the family of six, friend Ryan Posselt said they would need help to get their gear, including car and trailer, home to Tasmania.
"The Blake family have been planning this trip for four years. Delayed and cancelled by COVID, this trip was meant to be a 'once in a lifetime' journey with primary school-aged kids to show them this great country," he wrote.
The family of six were on a "low-cost" camping holiday from Tasmania at the time of the attack.
"Getting the family all the way back down to Perth, in an emergency situation, is difficult and the cost involved is not insubstantial," Mr Posselt said.
"At the moment, it looks like there'll be at least a few weeks in hospital in Western Australia before the family can come home.
"I'm hoping to get some community support to make that as easy as possible for them."
Mr Posselt said Archie would need more surgery on his injured leg.
"He has significant injuries to his left leg which will require multiple surgeries,' he said.
"He also requires ongoing IV antibiotic therapy to ward off infection and he'll have a significant recovery road ahead of him."
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) received the incident report at about 3pm on Saturday.
It said a snorkeller received injuries after being bitten by an unknown species of shark.
Marc De Sousa — who was camping in the area with his family and witnessed the incident — said the bite was a "decent" size, just above the knee and extending down towards the boy's ankle.
"I saw a fair bit of splashing, wasn't sure what had happened at the time, but as the mum and the two kids started swimming in, the mum waved out for help," he said.
"We ran over and the elder of the boys, I think, got bitten on the leg by a decent shark, I'd say.
"We just made sure he was conscious, made sure he was as good as he could be.
"My dad got there shortly after I did and he ran off to get the boy's dad who was a paramedic, I believe.
"We dragged the boy further up the beach, I think it was a rash shirt we used just to apply pressure to one of the bite marks.
"I ran to the caretaker's shortly afterwards to call for the ambulance."
Mr De Sousa estimated it took about 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the remote campground.
He said he had only ever seen small reef sharks in the region before.
The boy was first taken to Exmouth Hospital to be assessed.
He was then flown to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, with the plane landing at Jandakot Airport around 9pm WST.
He was taken from there to Perth Children's Hospital for further treatment.
Yallingup shark bite also on Saturday
West Australian authorities also issued another warning to swimmers in state's south-west, after a separate shark bite incident on Saturday morning.
According to the report from DPIRD, a male swimmer received minor injuries after being bitten by a 1-metre shark close to shore at Yallingup Beach.
The incident occurred in the shallows, close to the Yallingup BEN sign, and was not reported to authorities until Sunday.
