55-year-old in stable condition after suffering significant abdominal injuries in attack east of Murray Island in the Torres Strait

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A Cairns man endured a three-hour boat ride to a medical facility after being mauled by a bull shark while free-diving near the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland’s far north.

The 55-year-old man from Cairns was free-diving with a friend on a charter tour east of Murray Island in the Torres Strait on Saturday. Emergency services were notified of the attack around 12.40pm AEST.

David Cameron, a flight paramedic with Queensland Ambulance Service, treated the victim.



He said the pair had been free-diving at a depth of about 15m when a bull shark of approximately four metres in length came up behind the victim and bit him “several times” on his left arm and his stomach.

Despite “severe injuries” to his left arm, said Cameron, “he was able to swim up to safety and back onto the boat with no further damage”.

With torrential rain preventing the man being rescued by helicopter, he was taken by boat 54 nautical miles (120km) to the nearest medical facility on Murray Island; about a three-hour journey.

Some hours later, following a break in the bad weather, he was transported by helicopter to Thursday Island Hospital, where his wounds were assessed and he was kept overnight.

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Cameron said the man would be be flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Cairns for further “micro-surgery” on Sunday afternoon.



He said the man was an experienced diver but nonetheless “very lucky”.

“When you start to talk about four-meter sharks up here in the Torres Strait, you’re very lucky to walk away. It sounds like the shark was on a bit of a mission.”

The patient told Cameron that it was the second time he’d been attacked by a shark while diving.

“Hopefully there’s not a third one.”