News
Diver attacked by shark near Great Barrier Reef
A 55-year-old boat skipper from Cairns had to wait more than eight hours for a medical team and helicopter to reach him after being mauled by a shark while freediving near Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef yesterday.
The bull shark, apparently four metres long, repeatedly bit him causing “serious lacerations” to his left arm and abdomen.
The man, who was diving around 60 nautical miles east of Murray Island when he was mauled, is reported to have been 15 metres underwater at the time of the attack. Despite his injuries, the diver managed to swim back to his charter boat. Other crew members helped him back on board the large fishing vessel around 12:40pm, where a trained medic performed first aid to slow the bleeding.
A paramedic said it took five hours to get the man back to a small medical clinic on Murray Island.
“There’s no doctor there and he is being treated by a nurse who has only been on the island for two weeks. His condition is listed as stable,” the paramedic said.
He then had to wait a further three hours for a rescue helicopter to arrive from Horn Island, after an early attempt was called off due to torrential rain.
The helicopter eventually arrived at Murray Island just after 9:00pm to take the patient to Thursday Island Hospital, which took another three hours.
The man eventually went in for surgery just after midnight. He told paramedics that it was the second time he’d been attacked by a shark while diving.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
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