From Times Online
Third shark attack in 24 hours prompts panic on Australian beaches
Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney
Australian beachgoers are on Jaws alert after three shark attacks in separate locations around the country over the past 24 hours.
On Monday a snorkeller suffered 40 puncture wounds after fending off what is thought to have been a bull shark near a boat ramp at the mouth of the Illawarra River, near Wollongong, south of Sydney on the east coast of New South Wales (NSW).
Steven Foggarty, 24, said he saw a dark cloud in the water as he felt a tug on his leg and when he looked down he was bleeding.
“I just saw the blood all over both feet and had a quick look to make sure both legs were there and they were there,” said Mr Foggarty, as he displayed the scratches on his arm and puncture wounds to his leg.
He added that he instinctively punched the animal, forcing it to let go: “I just turned and started swingin’. I tried my best anyway, I think I got one on him.”
The attack came after two others in separate locations on Sunday – one on the east coast of NSW and one off Tasmania in the south; and just two weeks after a man was taken by a great white off Western Australia, never to be seen again.
On Sunday afternoon Hannah Mighall, 13, was surfing with her cousin Syb Mundy at Binalong Bay on the north eastern coast of Tasmania in southern Australia, when she was bitten by a 16ft white pointer.
Mr Mundy, 33, said the “monster” shark was “easily the length of a car” and described the scene as like something from the shark horror movie Jaws.
Mr Mundy, who was paddling near his teenage cousin, said the giant ocean predator dragged Hannah under the water twice before he was able to reach the scene.
“It took her under the water a couple of times and it was thrashing her around, but she kept her head together,” Mr Mundy told a national radio station.
“Once it let her go she was bleeding pretty bad. There was a lot of blood in the water.”
He has been hailed a hero after punching the shark to free Hannah’s leg from its jaws, saving her life.
“I can remember seeing the eye come out of the water and the head and I was going to try and poke it in the eye if I could get close enough,” Mr Mundy said.
But their torment wasn’t over yet. Mr Mundy said the shark bit through Hannah’s surfboard, which was tethered to her ankle, and then continued to circle the pair as they frantically caught a wave and paddled to shore.
Earlier on Sunday Jonathon ‘Jono’ Beard was attacked by a shark while he was surfing about 200ft offshore at Fingal Head, south of Tweed Heads, on the far north coast of NSW.
The 31-year-old was in the water with friends near a pod of dolphins when the shark, believed to have been an 11ft great white, struck.
It ripped a 16in chunk of flesh from Mr Beard’s thigh, but he managed to wrestle free and paddle safely to shore where locals used the leg rope from his surfboard as a tourniquet.
All three shark attack victims were treated in hospital, however their injuries were not considered life threatening.
The spate of recent attacks, while not fatal, have sparked fear and panic among in beachgoers around Australia.
They came just two weeks after Brian Guest disappeared while snorkelling off a beach in Western Australia.
The 51-year-old was last seen in the same area where a 14ft great white shark was spotted thrashing about. Mr Guest’s body has not been found.
Despite the increase in shark sightings, experts said there is no evidence that Australia’s shark population has increased, or that controversial nets which are in place at beachers around the country are not working.
“The human population is increasing and more and more people are going into the water, but there has not been a corresponding spike in fatalities from shark attacks,” John West, curator of the official Australian shark attack file, held at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, said.
“There is still an average of 1.2 fatalities a year over about the past 50 years – if anything the fatality rate for shark attacks is dropping in comparison to the increase in the human population.
“Humans are not part of the shark’s diet, otherwise there would be nobody safe in the water.”
Courtesy: timesonline.co.uk
