WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A young couple who took a dip in a river in a remote part of Papua New Guinea are recovering from a harrowing attack by a tribesman who shot the man with arrows twice before attempting to sexually assault the woman.

Police in Papua New Guinea said the attacker is being sought, and a hospital official said the suspect previously has been imprisoned for rape. The couple have declined requests to speak to the media, but interviews by The Associated Press this week with the local doctor who first treated the pair, along with other accounts from Papua New Guinea, are shedding new light on the rare attack near Nomad in the isolated North Fly District.

Dr. Charlie Turharus said the tribesman had been covertly tracking the pair for perhaps an hour or two before the June 19 attack. He fired an arrow at Matt Scheurich as the 28-year-old New Zealander relaxed on a river bank while his girlfriend, a French doctoral student studying tribal life, swam in the river.

The first arrow hit Scheurich on the right side of his chest, Dr. Turharus said. The attacker then emerged from his hiding spot and fired a second arrow at Scheurich that hit him in the left side of his chest and deflected down into his stomach.

“Normally they use these arrows for hunting, for shooting at cassowaries and bears,” Dr. Turharus said.

The attacker also threw rocks at Scheurich’s head, the doctor said. The man then attempted to sexually assault the French woman, but she managed to bite his hand and run to a nearby village, where she activated a personal locator beacon.

Such an attack is uncommon, though several countries have issued advisories that travelers be aware of relatively high levels of crime in Papua New Guinea, especially in remote areas.

Fortunately for the couple, there was an airstrip near the site of the attack, Dr. Turharus said. Scheurich was rescued from the riverside where he was “bleeding in pain and in agony.”

The New Zealander had ripped the arrows from his body, the doctor said.

But bad weather prevented the pair from being transported to a large regional hospital, Rumginae, and the couple were instead taken to the small and basic Kiunga Hospital where Dr. Turharus, who works for the Ok Tedi Mining company, operated on Scheurich.