“I still love sharks! Sharks are beautiful!” A 29-year-old woman, who was reportedly attacked by a shark off Cairns in North Queensland this morning, appears in good spirits as she's taken to hospital for treatment. https://t.co/9mRyWGKEH5 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/VVKBsLnHwP
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) July 14, 2020
At around noon on Tuesday, shark documentary filmmaker Anika Craney was attacked by a shark. As she was being taken to Cairns Hospital in Queensland, she had something to say from the stretcher. “I still love sharks!” she shouted. “Sharks are beautiful!”
Craney, who is 29, was swimming off the coast of Fitzroy Island, near Cairns, when the attack occurred. As of this writing, it’s not known what kind of shark was involved in the attack. Craney suffered injuries to her left leg.
“There were doctors on scene at Fitzroy Island and they provided first aid,” Queensland Ambulance Service critical care flight paramedic Terry Cumming told The Brisbane Times. “[Craney] ended up with a possible fracture of the left lower ankle and some lacerations from the shark bite.”
Although she was on the island to film a documentary about sharks, she wasn’t actually filming at the time of the attack. “She was relaxing on the island,” Cumming continued. “She’s actually doing a shark documentary and it’s her day off today.”
According to reports, after she was bitten, Craney swam back to the island. She was attacked in about 16-feet of water. Rescue crews were called, and she was flown to the hospital, where she underwent surgery on her left ankle. She’s listed in stable condition.
“I’ve got a lot of amazingly supportive friends and family,” she told 7News Brisbane in a 10-minute interview from her hospital bed. “And that helps so much to keep me staying positive and grateful that I’m alive. I don’t think I’ve had a near-death experience. I will say that in that moment when I was screaming for help, I did think that could have been it.”
The woman who claims she was bitten by a two-metre shark off Fitzroy Island says she thought she was going to die. Anika Craney spoke exclusively to 7NEWS following surgery on her left ankle in Cairns Hospital. https://t.co/XiUP1HFJjR #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/GeUJfVSQbS
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) July 16, 2020
