INJURED – 12 January 2009 – Windang Bridge, Lake Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia – snorkeller attacked

Steven Fogarty, 24, was bitten on the calf by what is believed to be a Bull shark, while snorkelling under the Windang Bridge on Lake Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia. The incident occurred around 10.50am on Monday, 12 January 2009.

An ambulance spokesperson said he was swimming in a school of fish when he noticed a brown shadow behind him. His leg was then bitten. “He punched the brown shadow and it let go.”

He suffered around 40 puncture wounds to his calf, but there was no muscle or tissue damage. He had some abrasions to his right fist where he punched shark.

He swam to nearby mudflats where he flagged down a boat. He was taken to Shellharbour Hospital and was reported in a stable condition.

This was the third shark attack in Australia in two days.

INJURED Binalong Bay 11 January 2009

INJURED Fingal Head 11 January 2009

Sources:

The Age

INJURED – 11 January 2009 -- Binalong Bay, near St Helens, Tasmania – surfer attacked

In a second shark attack in Australia in the same day, a 13-year-old girl, Hannah Mighall, was bitten on the lower right leg by a 5-metre white pointer shark while surfing with her male cousin at Baileys Rocks, Binalong Bay, near St Helens, Tasmania. The incident occurred around 3.45pm on Sunday, 11 January 2009.

The shark dragged the girl underwater twice before the cousin, in a remarkable act of bravery, reached the scene on his surfboard and hit the shark which was latched onto the girl’s leg. The shark let go and he put her on his surfboard and paddled with her to shore. The shark kept circling them as they made their way to the beach.

A policeman is quoted as saying the cousin, Syb Mundy, a man in his 20s from Queensland, managed to pull the teenager onto his surfboard and began to paddle towards the shore. But the shark followed and circled the frightened pair as they frantically paddled towards shore. At one stage they caught a wave, but the shark was in the same wave

Ian Hollingsworth was surfing 20 to 40 metres away and saw the attack, and the efforts of the girl’s male cousin to protect her.

“It was basically a scene out of 'Jaws',” he told the media.

“The shark went around and I saw it actually come out of the water and hit her.

“It then went around, I believe I saw her going backwards, and she was screaming.

“The guy was just fighting to save her. All the time the shark was circling.”

Hollingsworth says he then helped the cousin apply first aid.

“We carried her up onto the beach,” he said.

“I got the leg rope off the surfboard and put a tourniquet around her leg, then I raced up to the car because I knew I had a lot of towels in the car, and we bandaged her leg, and we just got her stabilised on the beach.”

The policeman said there was a significant bite out of the surfboard.
“I understand there was a fair bit of blood in the water.”

He said when she was brought ashore “she was really calm, she was brave, probably in a little bit of shock. There were no tears.”

He said the actions of the teenager’s cousin had saved her life.

The teenager was airlifted to a hospital in Hobart. Her injuries were not expected to be life threatening.

Sources:

Adelaide Now

ABC

Sky News

INJURED – 11 January 2009 – Fingal Head, New South Wales, Australia – surfer attacked

Jonathon Beard, a 31-year-old surfer, was bitten on the left thigh by a shark while surfing about 70 metres offshore of South Fingal beach, New South Wales, Australia. The attack occurred around 9.30am (local time) on Sunday,11 January 2009.

A lifeguard at the scene said the man was surfing with three friends when he was attacked.

"Witnesses indicate that there were a number of dolphins close to the group ... and the next minute there was a violent splashing in the water,” the lifeguard said.

The shark attack left a 40-centimetre wound between the knee and his left hip

"The good news is that no major arteries or bones were destroyed."

The victim’s surfer friends brought him to shore and used the leg rope as a tourniquet and applied towels to stem the bleeding.

The victim was airlifted to Gold Coast Hospital where he was reported in a stable condition.

The type of shark was not known.

Sources:

Sydney Morning Herald

ABC

Photo credit:

Adelaide Now

INJURED – 6 January 2009 -- Tukituki river mouth Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand – swimmer attacked

Greg Sims, 49, was swimming with his partner just south of the Tukituki River mouth, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand when he was bitten on the upper thigh by a shark. The attack occurred around 5.30pm on Tuesday, 6 January 2009.

Experts believe the shark may have been Broadnose Sevengill Shark – “a common large coastal shark species, which is most abundant near shore at this time of year”.

“I felt a sharp, painful bite on the back of my leg and couldn't leave the surf fast enough,” Sims told media.

“I screamed at Pauline (his partner) to get out of the water, she just stood there not comprehending what had happened.”

Sims used his towel as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before the two drove to Hawke's Bay Hospital.

“I saw nothing at all. Nothing broke the water so there was no warning and no sighting. We thought maybe it was a stingray, but from what we know they leave a sharp whip-like laceration, but this wound is the shape of a bite, and has taken a chunk of flesh away so we think it was a shark,” Sims said.

Sources:

Hawke’s Bay Today

Photo credit:

Hawke’s Bay Today

FATAL – 27 December 2008 -- Port Kennedy, Western Australia – snorkeller attacked

Brian Guest, 51 was fatally attacked by what is presumed a Great White shark while snorkelling for crabs with his son in about 3 metres of water at Port Kennedy beach, Western Australia. The incident occurred around 7am on Saturday 27 December 2008. Guest’s body was never recovered despite several air and sea searches. Police found pieces of wetsuit believed to have been worn by Guest.

Witnesses on the beach told of seeing a 'flash of fin' but local man Luke Tubbs, who lives near the beach, described a horrific scene in which the shark could be seen with Guest’s body in its jaws, according to media reports.

While he did not witness the event personally, he said it had been described to him by another man who had run to his home to raise the alarm.

“He told me he just saw a big splash and then the shark roll over in the water with the guy -- and then (he saw) no body or anything.”

Guest’s son was swimming some 20 feet from his father when the shark struck and while Daniel is understood not to have witnessed the actual attack, he realised his father was in trouble when he saw the water turn red with blood. He swam quickly to the beach, shouting for help.

Guest’s family asked for the shark to be left alone to 'respect' nature.

Sources:

Courier Mail

Daily Mail

INJURED – reported 20 December 2008 – Maraetai, near Auckland, New Zealand – fisherman attacked

Ken Lindberg spent five days in hospital after suffering injuries to his lower leg after being bitten by a shark while fishing with a friend off Maraetai, near Auckland, New Zealand. The date of the attack was not reported.

“We were just checking the net, just walking along lifting the top up a bit,” he told media.

“The next thing I felt this almighty clamp go around my leg. I said to Jeremy, 'We're out of here'.”

Lindberg said his left leg started to tighten up as the pair waded back through the surf but was only able to look when they reached shallow water.

“All I could see was this almighty gash and a lot of blood pouring out. I thought, 'All I want to do is get back to shore'.”

He made it back to his friend's house where a towel was wrapped around the wounds to stop the flow of blood.

His friend's wife then took him to Beachlands Medical Centre from where he was taken to hospital. He received 10 stitches above his ankle, four stitches to close his severed Achilles tendon and will not regain any feeling around his little toe, according to media.

New Zealand Department of Conservation shark expert Clinton Duffy said if Lindberg’s wounds were the work of a shark it was probably a bronze whaler.

While they don’t usually attack humans, it could have been attracted to Lindberg’s fishing spot if there were distressed fish in the net. “That would be enough to attract a shark into the area looking for a feed.”

Duffy described such shark attacks as “slash and run attacks” that usually target a person’s hands and legs.

Sources:

New Zealand Herald