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10/13/2007 Adam Wood (Australia)

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:19 pm
by sharkbait
Shark season begins as bronze whaler mauls diver

A BRISBANE tourist is lucky to be alive after being attacked by a shark in remote waters off Cairns.

A bronze whaler sank its teeth into the 31-year-old man's leg as he swam for a charter boat with a fish and his spear gun in his arms.

The shark attacked from behind, biting the back of the man's leg and tearing into his calf muscle.

The incident happened at Holmes Reef, about 135 nautical miles (240km) due east of Cairns, just before noon on Saturday.

"It was a pretty deep, long tear," an ambulance officer said of the man's wound.

"His tendons and muscles were exposed. The tear was about 30cm long."

The man was one of about 20 people on a charter boat specialising in spearfishing.

He was winched from the boat by Cairns's Emergency Management Queensland helicopter crew several hours after the attack.

The man had been well-looked after by his crew.

"He was all bandaged up by the time we got there and was pretty stable, in good spirits considering," helicopter pilot Chris Maehl said.

The spear fisherman is believed to regularly visit Cairns for boating holidays and was on board the charter with friends.

He remained in Cairns Base Hospital last night after undergoing surgery and a spokesman said he was in a stable condition.

Mr Maehl said the EMQ rescue helicopter was called in by water police when they realised the trip out would have taken about nine hours by boat.

The rescue also presented challenges by helicopter because of the distance involved.

"We can do 120 nautical miles safely ... and that's about where we met the boat," Mr Maehl said.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,2 ... 77,00.html

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:31 pm
by sharkbait
Bronze whaler shark attacks man

Article from: Peter Michael

October 16, 2007 12:00am

Image
Lucky man: Adam Wood with partner Karen Nunn.


SPEAR fisherman Adam Wood yesterday told how two mates "put their bodies on the line" and rescued him from the jaws of a "six to eight foot" bronze whaler in a frenzied attack involving up to 16 sharks off Cairns.


"I am lucky to be alive," Mr Wood said yesterday.

"They saved my life."

The Brisbane civil construction supervisor, 31, who is recovering in Cairns Base Hospital, was attacked at remote Holmes Reef, 240km due east of Cairns, about midday Saturday.

He owed his life to two fellow divers who bravely swam in and fought off the man-eater, which had bitten a 30cm chunk out of his right calf.

"They stabbed it with their spears and poked it to make it let go of my leg.

"They didn't give it a chance to give it a good chew or a shake, if it had it would have taken my whole leg off.

"They saved my leg and they saved my life."

He said the two divers Shane Martin and Matt Graves then kept the bronze whaler and about 15 black and white tip reef sharks at bay while he swam to the safety of a nearby dinghy.

"I was bleeding pretty bad," Mr Wood said.

"The sharks were whipped right up in a feeding frenzy.

"I thought the shark had torn my calf muscle right off the bone, but I didn't want to look down.

"I was screaming for help."

He was on an annual spear fishing expedition with a group of about 20 mates to the Coral Sea on board the dive boat Norkat II when the attack happened.

"We were hunting dogfish tuna in the bluewater and I was swimming a fish back to the dinghy when it all turned dangerous.

"By the time we realised how dangerous -- berley in the water and killed fish -- the situation was out of control."

Les Eckart, director of Norkat II, said once he was bleeding the other sharks started to come in on him, and the other men kept the sharks away."

Mr Wood faces six weeks on crutches after surgery and more than 50 stitches to re-attach tendons and ligaments severed by the 30cm bite.

Doctors expect him to make a full recovery with only a mild numbness in his ankle.


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 62,00.html