An 82-year-old man has been injured after a suspected shark attack on an Ibiza beach which is popular with tourists.

The Spanish pensioner suffered a two-inch gash after being bitten by the giant fish on the beach at Playa d’en Bossa.

Terrified sunseekers fled the water after the attack, and there was no sign of the shark after a lengthy search.

Authorities believe the 82-year-old man was attacked by a blue shark, similar to the one shown above

The pensioner was discharged from Can Misses Hospital on Friday evening, four hours after being admitted.

Local authorities said they believe the injury was caused by a blue shark or a large fish.

Blue shark - tintoreras in Spanish - are one of the most common species of sharks in the Mediterranean.

The same type of shark was blamed for an attack on a holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante last July.

The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital and given stitches to a wound in his hand.

First aiders described the bite as 'large' and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury. The drama happened at Elche’s Arenales del Sol beach.

The red flag was kept in place for around two hours when bathers were allowed back in the water.

Tourists were ordered out of the water last August in the Costa del Sol resort of Fuengirola after bathers said they had spotted a shark.

Lifeguards on jet skis helped kids on dinghies and from an inflatable water park near where the shark was spotted to safety as colleagues ran along the shoreline blowing on whistles and ordering swimmers out of the water.

Fuengirola beach, one of the most popular of the Costa del Sol with British tourists, was closed for five hours while patrol boats searched for the fish.

The red flag was hoisted along nearly two miles of coastline.

The beach was eventually reopened after nothing untoward was found.