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« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2007, 07:35:19 AM » |
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Shark bites man on bottom
Date: December 19 2007
A man surfing near Newcastle survived a shark attack that sliced open a "very large flap of skin'' on his right buttock, a rescuer said.
Westpac rescue helicopter spokesman Mike de-Winton said Ben Morcom, 31, was lying on his board at Jimmys Beach, near Nelson Bay, 60km north of Newcastle, when the shark bit him and the board about 11am (AEDT) today (181207).
"The surfboard took the most of the damage but he suffered some quite severe cuts, deep lacerations,'' said Mr de-Winton.
"He had one very large flap of skin opened up, larger than a man's hands.''
Despite the stinging wounds, the surfer made it out of the water to a car park and a fisherman drove him four kilometres to an ambulance station.
He was then airlifted to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital where he was listed in a stable condition.
Mr de-Winton said the type of shark was unknown, although the victim thought it could be a bull shark.
Police say the man was from South Australia and witnesses described the shark as being about two-metres long, dark in colour and possibly a bull shark.
As Mr Morcom underwent surgery in John Hunter Hospital to patch his cuts, shark expert John West said it was irrational for people to be scared of the predators.
"Being scared of sharks is not a rational fear,'' Mr West said, adding more people still die each year from bee stings than shark attacks.
Mr West is the curator of The Australian Shark Attack File and works at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.
He said, however, the number of people suffering non-fatal shark attack injuries was increasing in step with population growth.
Summer was particularly dangerous on Australia's east coast with more people in the ocean and sharks following bait schools swarming close to shore, he said.
Last week swimmer Scott Wright survived being bitten by a shark at Sydney's Bondi Beach, suffering deep gouges to one of his arms.
In November, a shark circled two teenage girls stranded on a semi-submerged shipwreck at Byron Bay, in northern NSW, before they were rescued.
That incident followed an attack in November on a woman who was knocked from her sea kayak by a shark near Byron Bay.
The woman suffered a bite to her arm requiring stitches.
AAP
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