A surfer was seriously injured as he repeatedly punched a shark that mauled him off the Australian east coast yesterday, less than a week after a fatal attack, police and a witness said.
Craig Ison, 52, sustained significant wounds to his left leg and hand in the dawn attack at Evans Head, 550km north of Sydney, Detective Inspector Cameron Lindsay said.
Ison was taken by ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital in serious but stable condition, police said.
The attack came after a similar one on Saturday last week off the island state of Tasmania, when recreational diver Damian Johnson, 46, became the second victim of a fatal shark attack in Australia this year. He was mauled by a suspected great white.
In the latest attack, Ison saw the shark and raised the alarm while surfing with friend Geoff Hill, Lindsay said.
“They then proceeded to try to paddle in from the ocean and ... it appears the shark has then attacked the 52-year-old and has bitten him on the left-hand side,” Lindsay told reporters at the town of Ballina, 40km north of Evans Head.
“He actually fought off the shark, we’re told, and has made it to shore with the help of that other surfer and passers-by,” he said.
Beach walkers saved Ison’s life by using surfboard leg ropes as tourniquets to slow the bleeding before paramedics arrived, Lindsay said.
Ison underwent surgery to his wounds later yesterday, Lindsay said.
Ernie Bennett, mayor of Richmond Valley Council which includes Evans Heads, said a bull shark was thought to be responsible for the attack. It initially bit Ison’s hip and upper thigh. Ison’s hand and arm were lacerated as he fought back.
Hill described witnessing the attack as “like watching the Mick Fanning episode in replay,” referring to the internationally broadcast video of the professional surfer battling a shark during a competition in South Africa last week. Fanning survived unscathed after also punching the animal that attacked him.
“The white board went up in the air; the tail was thrashing around,” Hill told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
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