Early this morning, 31st July 2015, a 52 year old surfer was mauled by a 4-5 metre shark at Evans Head on the North Coast of New South Wales in Australia. The fact that this is the 5th shark attack in the region in the last 12 months , is somewhat alarming.
Apparently there have been several sighting sightings of multiple 4-5 metre sharks in the last week which has resulted in beach closures. The shark attack victim, Craig Ison, was surfing with a friend, Geoff Hill. Actually they’d just paddled out and hadn’t even caught a wave yet.
Shortly after the attack Geoff Hill said:
We were just paddling out, we hadn’t even got to the stage of trying to catch a wave and he called out to me, Go in, there’s a shark!
Next thing, the shark grabbed him. All I saw was a lot of thrashing in the water [and] a rather large tail
Craig managed to get back on his board despite wounds to his legs, arms and hands from punching the shark. The pair made it back to the beach where they got emergency services to the scene and applied 1st aid.
Craig Ison was transported to the hospital with a police officer driving the ambulance because of the severity of the injuries. He is reportedly in a stable condition.
Bart Easdon who runs the beachside Kiosk at Evan’s Head was quoted:
There’s been a lot of sightings including a couple of four-metre and five-metre ones up the coast
After the run of shark attacks in this region lately, I’d be seriously thinking about strapping a diving knife to my leg if I was heading out for a paddle at any time of day.
