A child, who was almost killed by a shark at a popular north Queensland island resort, is fighting for her life in hospital.

The 12-year-old girl, who was the second person attacked by a shark near Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands in less than 24 hours, is reportedly critical and will undergo surgery after experiencing a significant loss of blood.

The child, believed to be holidaying with her father and sister, was flown to Mackay Base Hospital after being bitten on the upper leg on Thursday afternoon.

According to emergency responders, the girl suffered “absolutely horrific” injuries.

#Update – Paramedics are treating a female child in a serious condition with a significant leg injury after being bitten by a shark in waters near Cid Harbour. A critical care paramedic is at the scene with the @cq_rescue helicopter.

— Queensland Ambulance (@QldAmbulance) September 20, 2018

A group of bystanders were the first to attend to the girl who was losing a life-threatening amount of blood.

She was given first aid and later treated by RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter Service paramedics at a nearby beach for about 20 minutes before being flown to Mackay Base Hospital.

“Her status at the moment could be called critical until further ­information is released,” Queensland Ambulance Service Mackay operations manager Tracey Eastwick told The Courier-Mail.

“It is horrific, there is a ­patient with loved ones and families our hearts go out for them,” she said.

Authorities have strongly recommended that people keep away from the area as baited lines are deployed to capture and kill any predatory sharks.

Less than a day earlier, Justine Barwick, 46, was also attacked in Cid Harbour while snorkelling.

Justine Barwick almost bled to death if it were’t for the immediate assistance that she luckily received. Photo: Channel 9

Ms Barwick, who was earlier deemed critical, is now in a stable condition and considered lucky to be alive after she lost a large chunk of her left thigh to the shark and received puncture wounds to her calf.

She was attended to almost immediately by a rescue helicopter which was luckily just 15 minutes away from the scene of the attack.

Mackay Base Hospital emergency doctor John Hadok who was on a nearby boat also rushed to help the mother-of-two.

Ms Barwick was then flown to Brisbane in a medically configured jet for further medical treatment on Thursday evening, according to LifeFlight Air Ambulance.

John Hadok heard the sound of helicopters before rushing to help Justine Barwick. Photo: Channel 9

Queensland Ambulance Service’s Ms Eastwick said paramedics were horrified to witness two similar incidents in succession.

“As you can imagine they’re fairly large wounds with artery and bones, (blood) vessels, large haemorrhage,” she told reporters in Mackay.

Ms Eastwick said shark attacks in North Queensland are very rare. The last attack in the area was eight years ago.

“As a community of paramedics, it is quite confronting to have two similar incidents in the space of less than 24 hours.

“The message they wanted to put across was that the first aid provided … has contributed to saving their lives at this point in time,” she said.

Jeff Krause, manager of Fisheries Queensland shark control program, described the two consecutive shark attacks as “unprecedented”.

“These events are shocking, but it is quite rare to have multiple attacks in one area,” he told the ABC.

He said it was most likely that two different sharks were responsible for the two bloody maulings.

“It is possible that there’s more than one shark involved in these unfortunate events,” he said.

There are practical things that locals and tourists must be aware of to reduce the risk of a shark attack according to Dr Mark Read from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

“In some of these places that people frequent, they might be fishing and might be dropping their food scraps over the side, or the fish. In many ways, this can be attracting the sharks or training the sharks to associate food with people in that area,” Dr Read told the ABC.

The Queensland government will set three drum lines in the area on Friday in a bid to prevent any further attacks.

Fisheries officers and water police are also patrolling the area, while swimmers are being told to stay out of the water at the popular holiday hotspot.

-with AAP