10/13/2007 Adam Wood (Australia)
Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:19 pm
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
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