Shark attacks 12-year-old girl near Australia's Great Barrier Reef

[webfact]

Shark attacks 12-year-old girl near Australia's Great Barrier Reef

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A 12-year-old girl was attacked by a shark in waters off Australia's tropical northeast coast on Thursday, an ambulance official said, the second attack in the tourist region in as many days.

 

Rescuers were called to Cid Harbour at Whitsunday Island, near the Great Barrier Reef, on Thursday afternoon and found the girl with bad leg injuries, said Tracey Eastwick, the regional ambulance operations manager.

 

"The patient's injuries today are again a shark attack bite to the patient's thigh area, with significant blood loss," Eastwick told reporters in Mackay, where the girl is in a serious condition in hospital.

 

"It is horrific ... it is quite confronting to have two similar incidents in the space of 24 hours," she said.

 

Australia ranked behind only the United States in the number of unprovoked shark encounters with humans in 2017, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File.

 

The island where the girl was bitten is a popular tourist site 900 km (560 miles) northwest of the state capital Brisbane.

 

The attack followed the dramatic rescue of a 46-year-old woman, Justine Barwick, who was bitten by a shark while swimming at dusk from a yacht in the same area on Wednesday evening.

 

Barwick was badly hurt on the upper right leg, ambulance officials said, and a doctor who was on a nearby boat attended to her until rescuers arrived by helicopter.

 

The doctor, John Hadock, was about to go for a swim when he was summoned to jump into a dinghy and rush to Barwick's aid.

 

"I was very worried that I might find severe bleeding still going. They had been able to stop the bleeding but Justine was very, very ill," he told Channel Seven television.

 

Hadock said he treated Barwick before a helicopter crew winched her to safety and flew her to Mackay hospital, where a spokeswoman said Barwick is in critical condition.

 

Last year, a spate of shark attacks off Australia's northeast coast led to the controversial deployment of protective nets, which authorities said would save lives and guard the country's reputation as a tourist destination.

 

Environmentalists say the nets can also harm a number of threatened and migratory species.

 

A teenage girl was killed in 2017 by a shark while surfing at a break in Western Australia, and a surf competition at Margaret River was cancelled after two surfers were bitten by sharks.

 

(Reporting and writing by Tom Westbrook; Additional reporting by Jill Gralow; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-20

[wendyfromoz]

Welcome to Australia, if it swims, slithers, crawls, jumps, runs or flys our wildlife can kill you.

[DoctorG]

10 minutes ago, wendyfromoz said:

Welcome to Australia, if it swims, slithers, crawls, jumps, runs or flys our wildlife can kill you.

It's the Drop Bears you really need to look out for.

[meechai]

Just goes to show sharks rarely eat someone.

They bite when mistaking them for a tortoise (especially if on a board viewed from below)...or what ever

 

But they take a bit & say what the %#$* was that stringy crap meat? ?

 

In many decades I only ever hear of one swimmer really getting dismantled by a Tiger shark

All the rest were bite & release

Edited September 21, 2018 by meechai

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, meechai said:

Just goes to show sharks rarely eat someone.

They bite when mistaking them for a tortoise (especially if on a board viewed from below)...or what ever

 

But they take a bit & say what the %#$* was that stringy crap meat? ?

 

In many decades I only ever hear of one swimmer really getting dismantled by a Tiger shark

All the rest were bite & release

Still a bit of a bummer if you're on the receiving end of a test bite !

[tropo]

3 hours ago, meechai said:

Just goes to show sharks rarely eat someone.

They bite when mistaking them for a tortoise (especially if on a board viewed from below)...or what ever

 

But they take a bit & say what the %#$* was that stringy crap meat? ?

 

In many decades I only ever hear of one swimmer really getting dismantled by a Tiger shark

All the rest were bite & release

Unfortunately, a "bite & release" by a Great White shark can be fatal... and when all the blood hits the water, they get into a feeding frenzy and come back for more bites. On the east coast and further north, the bull sharks are more dangerous as they are aggressive and like warm water.

[oldrunner]

Bite and release my ass (no pun intended). Bleeding out before professional help can get you to stop bleeding or airlift to a  hospital.

[simple1]

Two females were attacked at the same location within 24 hours. Both suffered major blood loss and extremely fortunate to survive due to excellent local emergency medical care. Both victims have now been airlifted to Brisbane, still in critical condition, for further treatment.

[MaksimMislavsky]

44 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Two females were attacked at the same location within 24 hours.

Is it a trend suggesting sharks in those waters are somehow tempted to attack specifically females? Or is it the same one shark having such reference, especially given the similarity of injuries?

Edited September 21, 2018 by MaksimMislavsky
added

[simple1]

25 minutes ago, MaksimMislavsky said:

Is it a trend suggesting sharks in those waters are somehow tempted to attack specifically females? Or is it the same one shark having such reference, especially given the similarity of injuries?

Not a shark expert

[MaksimMislavsky]

On 9/20/2018 at 12:23 PM, webfact said:

A teenage girl was killed in 2017 by a shark while surfing at a break in Western Australia,

And this one, too. One more instance of a female being attacked. 

Edited September 21, 2018 by MaksimMislavsky
formatting

[Odysseus123]

Right.

 

Implement emergency procedures and evacuate the continent immediately.

 

Actually Chiko Rolls are one the greatest killers followed (as another poster relates) by drop bears BUT the primary killer remains that of  grabbing for the remote control,tripping over the magazine table,dislodging the box of Domino's pizza and falling upon a stubby of VB.

 

Such is the penalty for living in one of the most highly urbanized-and obese-countries in the world...

[sebastion]

Sharks at the beginning of Spring on the barrier reef.
I'm shocked.




Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk

[overherebc]

3 hours ago, MaksimMislavsky said:

Is it a trend suggesting sharks in those waters are somehow tempted to attack specifically females? Or is it the same one shark having such reference, especially given the similarity of injuries?

Isn't just a case of 'I know people get bitten by sharks but it won't happen to me'

I know very little about snakes so anytime one appears in the garden I call the guys who do.

I know even less about sharks and just don't even think about swimming in the sea, it's full of things that want to sting you, bite you or eat you.

Sorry for the girl who got bitten. Hope she makes a full recovery.

[MaksimMislavsky]

16 hours ago, overherebc said:

I know very little about snakes so anytime one appears in the garden I call the guys who do.

Thai landlord said I should grab a stick and kill them. Never did as she advised. Just let them be there. (Sorry it has nothing to do with sharks)

[rosst]

On 9/21/2018 at 12:03 PM, tropo said:

Unfortunately, a "bite & release" by a Great White shark can be fatal... and when all the blood hits the water, they get into a feeding frenzy and come back for more bites. On the east coast and further north, the bull sharks are more dangerous as they are aggressive and like warm water.

Exactly, these attacks have all the hallmarks of Bull Shark attacks. 

I am in favour of conservation of threatened shark species but I would like to see more culls in tourist beach zones 

[simple1]

2 hours ago, rosst said:

Exactly, these attacks have all the hallmarks of Bull Shark attacks. 

I am in favour of conservation of threatened shark species but I would like to see more culls in tourist beach zones 

A known area for tiger sharks, warning had previously made not to swim in the bay. Now three tiger sharks have been killed by govt in past day or two in the immediate area of the attacks. 3+ metres, 2.5 meters and a 2 meter. Shark nets have now been deployed

Edited September 23, 2018 by simple1

[Odysseus123]

3 hours ago, simple1 said:

A known area for tiger sharks, warning had previously made not to swim in the bay. Now three tiger sharks have been killed by govt in past day or two in the immediate area of the attacks. 3+ metres, 2.5 meters and a 2 meter. Shark nets have now been deployed

Hopefully,the bull necked Gov't responses will cease,the sharks will be allowed to be sharks and not be killed (for being sharks) and that a vigilant watch will be kept.

 

Humans kill far more sharks than sharks kill humans...many,many of those to spare.

 

Actually,in Australia,more people get killed by falling off a ladder than are killed by sharks,snakes,crocodiles,funnel web spiders and tumbling Lego blocks.

[simple1]

40 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Hopefully,the bull necked Gov't responses will cease,the sharks will be allowed to be sharks and not be killed (for being sharks) and that a vigilant watch will be kept.

 

Humans kill far more sharks than sharks kill humans...many,many of those to spare.

 

Actually,in Australia,more people get killed by falling off a ladder than are killed by sharks,snakes,crocodiles,funnel web spiders and tumbling Lego blocks.

The area is a bit remote, popular for yachties / charters, so unlikely to have good surveillance

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

The area is a bit remote, popular for yachties / charters, so unlikely to have good surveillance

 

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

The area is a bit remote, popular for yachties / charters, so unlikely to have good surveillance

True..

 

About ?50,000 kilometers of coastline.

 

So..three tiger sharks have been killed in revenge.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Odysseus123