Experts say the bite was from a 10-foot white shark. Photo: Gerald Schömbs // Unsplash
A 23-year-old surfer is in critical but stable condition in the wake of a shark encounter in New South Wales. After being bitten by what experts believe to be a 10-foot white shark, the man swam in to shore and was aided by a passing off-duty police officer, who saved his life by using a dog leash as a tourniquet.
The incident occurred at Port Macquarie, on the mid north coast of the Australian state. The local surfer, identified by 9 News as Kai McKenzie, was surfing near a breakwall at North Shore Beach, on the northern side of the Hastings River. He suffered serious injuries to his right leg, inflicted by a 10-foot white shark, according to a statement this afternoon from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
“The man saw the shark approach him, he was able to fight it off, he was pretty courageous and able to turn around and catch a wave to shore,” NSW Ambulance Service acting duty operations officer Kirran Mowbray told ABC News. Emergency services were called around 11am and multiple ambulances responded.
Mowbray explained that the man was then aided by a resourceful onlooker onshore. “He was very lucky at the time we had a retired police officer that was walking his dog,” she said. “He used a lead off the dog as a tourniquet to wrap around the young man’s leg and essentially saved the man’s life until the paramedics got there.”
After being treated for the injury, the man was taken to the Port Macquarie base Hospital. From there, he was flown to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. He is currently in critical, but stable, condition.
In response, the beach has been closed and the NSW government’s shark team set up two additional SMART drumlines in the area, in addition to the four already in place.
