Tourist injured by stingray at Mt Maunganui

A tourist has been left with a deep wound to his ankle after he was stung by a stingray at Mt Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty today.

The 23-year-old, from Italy, was body surfing at the beach when he accidentally stood on the stingray at around midday, the Bay of Plenty Times reports.

He was then pulled out of the water by local surfer Colin McGongle, who had heard the man yelling and waving after the attack.

"It really was a big and very deep laceration," Mr McGongle told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Beachgoers and lifeguards helped the man before an ambulance arrived and took him to Tauranga Hospital.