On Wednesday evening, professional surfer Brett Connellan, 22, was mauled by a shark while surfing off Bombo Beach, 75 miles south of Sydney.
Fellow surfer Joel Trist told reporters Thursday he heard his friend scream, and he paddled to him as quickly as possible. The shark was already gone, and Trist dragged Connellan onto his board and caught a wave to shore. Connellan likely would have died, Ambulance Service spokesman Terry Morrow told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper, if it weren't for two off-duty nurses on the beach who turned a surfboard leg rope into a tourniquet for his upper thigh. Connellan "lost a large proportion of his left thigh, and the quad muscle was torn away right down to the bone," Morrow said. "He could've bled to death before we arrived on scene."
Connellan was flown to a hospital in Sydney in serious condition, police said, with injuries to his thigh and hand. He said he did not see the shark, and experts are looking at his wounds to determine the size and species of the shark that attacked him, The Associated Press reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 17 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include voting rights of felons, misdirection on the way to the Alaska summit, and more
-
5 crime-ridden cartoons about National Guard deployment in DCCartoons Artists take on the crime of littering, the real criminals in DC, and more
-
Trump and Modi: the end of a beautiful friendship?In the Spotlight Harsh US tariffs designed to wrest concessions from Delhi have been condemned as 'a new form of imperialism'
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
