"Shark Attack Survivors News Archive"

02/03/2007 Matthew McIntosh (Australia)

Shark Attack Survivors News Archive for Shark Attacks in 2007.
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sharkbait
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02/03/2007 Matthew McIntosh (Australia)

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NSW Boogie boarder bitten by shark
3rd February 2007, 6:00 WST




A 26-year-old surfer has been bitten by a shark while riding a wave off the NSW north coast.

The man's foot was mauled in the attack off Shelly beach, between Ballina and Lennox Head, about 8am (AEDT) today, police said.

Lacerations to his lower left leg and foot were not life-threatening, said paramedics who airlifted him to Lismore Base Hospital.

He told them he was attacked from behind as he rode a wave on his boogie board.

“He was catching a wave when the shark bit him ... he didn't see the shark at all,” Westpac rescue helicopter pilot David Milnes said.

“He said it grabbed him and he told me he just knew what had happened and yelled out to his mates to get him help.

“Then he got himself to shore and was patched up by ambulance officer before we took him hospital.”

Mr Milnes said the surfer was conscious and talking during the flight to hospital.

No-one seems to have seen the shark to identify its size or species.

“His mates didn't even know what happened,” the pilot said.

The attack follows an abalone diver's miraculous escape from the jaws of four-metre great white two weeks ago on the NSW south coast.

Eric Nerhus, 41, managed to pull his head and shoulders out from between the shark's jaws after poking it in the eye with his fingers, eight metres below the surface near Cape Howe.

Mr Nerhus suffered only a broken nose and cuts to his torso.

He's believed to have spent up to two minutes inside the shark's mouth, without his air supply, and with his head wedged as the white pointer's teeth rasped across the lead vest credited with saving him from being bitten in two.

The father of two was dragged onto a boat by his son as the shark circled in the bloodstained water.

AAP

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx? ... ntID=20426
Last edited by sharkbait on Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Shark attack victim goes back to work, not water

02.07.2007

SHARK attack survivor Matt McIntosh still has flashbacks of his attack, but that has not stopped him returning to work months ahead of schedule.

Matt, 26, of Goonellabah, has been back working in his job as a carpenter for the past eight weeks, just over three months after a shark bit his foot at Ballina’s Angels Beach on February 3.

They said it was going to be about eight months until I go back to work but the doctor was pretty happy with how everything was going and said that I could go back to work just doing, you know, light stuff, he said.

And although he is still not 100 per cent, I’ve adjusted to it with my work and its fine.



My boss is great.

I just wanted everything to get back to normal because just being at home was really getting me down, he said. Despite his faster than expected recovery, Matt said he had no plans to get back in the water any time soon.

More so just because I don’t feel confident enough to be able to surf with it, he said.

And also, it sort of freaks me out a little bit. Maybe just not being 100 per cent keeps me away from it at the moment. When Christmas time comes around I’ll probably be out there.

I have flashbacks all the time. Thoughts of it, what could have happened. They’ve been playing shark bloody shows on TV recently. It doesn’t do it justice. Matt was lucky the shark didn’t break his bone or he would have lost more blood and possibly his foot.

He was in a cast for three months then underwent extensive physiotherapy.

They did a nerve study and they said the nerve that was injured, that was severed, is completely gone and the chances of getting my feeling back in my foot are very slim, like 50 per cent, he said.

Nonetheless, he will see his surgeon, Dr Richard Hudson, in the next two weeks, to conduct another nerve study to determine if the nerves are healing, and discuss microsurgery options.

It’s worth my while doing it if I can get some sort of feeling back. But it’s not hindering my life at all. I haven’t changed anything. I can still walk, run. I’m fine. I do a lot of heavy lifting at work and it hasn’t slowed me down at all.

The doctors were pretty positive and everything so I didn’t get any negative thoughts of it at all. I just wanted to get out and get on with getting back to 100 per cent.

The morning that it happened it was dark and gloomy and the fish the smell in the air bait fish and the birds and everything, were just bad signs, signs all around.

You see it, look at it now and you think why did I go out there, but because I’d been doing it for 13 years you become naive to it.

You don’t even think about all that sort of stuff, all you’re concentrating on is the waves. It’ll be all right. Give it a few years, I should be over it.

At least I’ve still got my foot and I’m still here. I’ve got my family and everything. I’m more thankful for that I suppose.


http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnew ... id=3740103
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Shark bite at Ballina: extra patrols
Sunday, 4 February 2007

Reporter: Jane Munro


Matt McIntosh with his wife Leonie at Lismore Base Hospital. Matt was bitten by a shark at South Angels Beach in Ballina and suffered injuries to his lower left leg. Photo provided by Ian Graham.


Matt McIntosh was bitten by a shark while surfing at South Angels Beach.

A boogie board rider has been bitten by a shark at South Angels Beach in Ballina on the New South Wales North Coast.

Shortly before 8am on Saturday morning 26-year-old Goonellabah resident, Matt McIntosh, was attacked from behind by a shark. Matt was surfing with his friend Craig Harris. The pair had regularly surfed together at that beach for over a decade. Matt's brother-in-law, Ian Graham, says the family is shocked by what happened.

"Matt was paddling on a wave, the shark came up behind him from below and behind, and grabbed his left foot, the flipper went inside the sharks mouth and he got pulled backwards off his board into the water, under the water and the shark took one grab and then let go."

"Matt had to paddle probably three-quarters of the way back in by himself, which is a fair distance, I think they probably would have been 100 metres from shore. His friend, Craig, was further away, he had caught a wave just previous to that."

"So he had to go a good 70-odd metres to get close into shore and couldn't go any further so his friend had to pull him in the rest of the way...he was struggling with consciousness, luckily Craig was there and rescued him and took him back into shore."

Ian says the pair had a difficult time getting up onto the beach. "It is not an easy place to get in there, there's lots of rocks, slimy rocks, it's hard to stand up at the best of time."

Ballina Surf Life Saving Club acting Captain, Rod Balkin, says Matt had serious injuries to his left leg below the knee. "His friends called the ambulance straight away, the ambulance arrived and started doing first aid on the victim and the decision was made to call in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter which landed on the beach and took him back to Lismore Base Hospital. He had a fairly good large gash to his lower leg down to the bone."

Matt underwent surgery on Saturday afternoon and according to Ian there may be some long term damage. "He may not have feeling in the bottom of his foot, he will have a limp for quite a while and he will have to do a lot of physio, but he'll be okay."

we have also...organised some extra helicopter flyovers to make sure that if there are sharks out there, that we see them and give the public plenty of notice.
Saturday's shark attack follows the disappearance of two surfers last month - one in Lennox Head and one off Brunswick Heads, and the discovery of yet to be identified human remains in the river at Brunswick Heads.

Mr Balkin says the club has received advise from the Water Police that there could be increased shark activity in the area because of prevailing ocean conditions.

"We have had more sightings, not so much at Ballina, but further north there has been quite a few sightings of sharks. The Water Police told us... it has a bit to do with the cold ocean currents coming further up the coast this time of the year and pushing the sharks towards the beaches."

Mr Balkin says the club will be carrying out extra patrols for at least the next week. "We will be having extra patrols with the inshore rescue boat and we have also, through the branch, organised some extra helicopter flyovers to make sure that if there are sharks out there, that we see them and give the public plenty of notice."

"The helicopter started extra patrols yesterday and I would imagine they will continue for a little while until we are sure that everything is okay. We have the boats in the water every day while we are patrolling, both as a precaution for the swimmers and to make sure there aren't any nasties lurking out there."

Mr Balkin says the best precaution people can take is to swim at patrolled beaches, "if the life savers are there and something does happen to you, we can usually get you out of trouble. Obviously we have support services that we can call as well, like jet rescue boats and helicopters, so the big message is swim where there are life savers."

South Angels Beach was closed immediately following the shark attack and reopened around 1pm after the surf life saving club conducted extensive sea and air surveillance to determine the sharks were no longer in the area.

Ian Graham, says Matt did not see the shark that bit him but the family is speculating the shark was a bronze whaler, "from the bite marks, they are saying around two-metres."

http://www.abc.net.au/northcoast/storie ... m?backyard
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Shark attack recovery
A northern New South Wales surfer is recovering in hospital after having emergency surgery on his lower leg after being attacked by a shark.

Matthew McIntosh has been joined by his young family but is yet to learn if surgeons have saved his mauled leg.

He was attacked while catching waves off Shelly Beach at Ballina on Saturday morning.

The shark dragged him from his boogie board by his leg but tasted the rubber fin of his board and spat him out.

His friend, turned rescuer Craig Harris is in awe of Matthew's instinct to raise the alarm and clear the water, despite his searing pain.

The 36 year old now faces a harrowing wait to learn if his leg has been saved following marathon surgery.

Doctors are hopeful Matthew will regain full use of his damaged limb.

He also faces a year of intensive rehabilitation before he can work or go back in the water again.

http://www.skynews.com.au/story.asp?id=152951
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Heroics in shark attack
By Paul Weston
February 03, 2007 11:00pm


A BLOODIED boogie-boarder screamed a warning to his mates after being attacked by a shark off a northern New South Wales beach yesterday.

Matthew McIntosh, 26, a builder from Goonellabah near Lismore, shouted to a dozen other surfers: "Get out, get out there's a shark".
The father of two had been waiting to catch a wave at Angels Beach, south of Lennox Head, when the shark, believed to be a 2-3m bronze whaler, came from behind and bit his left ankle.

Fellow surfer Craig Harris said: "I saw the board go up in the air. I thought he was fooling around and joking, and then I heard the screaming."

Mr McIntosh swam to within 5m of shore before Mr Harris helped carry him to the beach, where a nurse gave first aid.

Mr McIntosh was flown to Lismore Hospital and was in a stable condition last night after surgery.

His uncle, Mark McIntosh, 53, said friends feared his nephew would drown as he battled to shore in the 1.5m swell.

"He was running out of steam," he said. "Craig dragged him out of the water. He's a real hero."

Mark McIntosh said the two school mates had surfed together for 15 years, often with sharks around them.

"Matthew has told me a few times that the sharks have been underneath his board," Mr McIntosh said.

"He won't be put off surfing by this. I am just glad he is safe. He'll have to try and be more careful in the future."

Charlie Wood, producer of Channel 7's Surf Patrol, was filming at the beach.

"He wasn't thinking of himself, he warned everyone else," Mr Wood said.

Ballina Surf Life Saving duty officer Garry Meredith closed the area's beaches yesterday, waiting for the all-clear after a sweep by the Westpac helicopter.


http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story ... 53,00.html
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Post by sharkbait »

Shark attack victim taken to hospital
A 26-year-old man attacked by a shark on the New South Wales far north coast has been taken to hospital.

The man - from Goonellabah, east of Lismore - was on a boogie board at Blackhead near Ballina this morning when the attack happened.

He caught a wave at about 8am AEDT when the shark lunged at his left leg below the knee.

The shark released its bite and the man managed to get to the shore with help from other surfers.

He suffered a broken leg and deep cuts and was stabilised by ambulance officers before being airlifted to the Lismore Base Hospital.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 839541.htm
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