A Queensland man will make a full recovery after he was “nibbled” by a shark in the Whitsundays on Friday night.
Todd Price, a 34-year-old father-of-two from Middlemount in central Queensland, left for Airlie Beach on Friday morning to celebrate his friend’s upcoming nuptials.
The group relaxed and partied on their boat before docking in a tranquil bay near Hook Island, 45km from Airlie Beach.
The area is the same spot an English tourist had his foot bitten off by a shark in 2019.
Speaking to Mackay’s Daily Mercury, Mr Price said he was hoping to cool off on Friday night when he jumped in for a quick dip.
“I was getting a bit hot, so I thought I’d dive in [to the ocean] and cool off, not going for a swim, just to freshen up,” Mr Price told the publication.
Mr Price had only been in the water for a few moments when he felt something pushing on his leg.
“I put my hand down and felt a big head and I thought, “Oh this isn’t good.’”
Mr Price managed to push the shark’s head away and get it to let go but as he clutched onto the ladder, the shark came for him again, biting the bottom of his leg.
After making it back onto the boat, Mr Price’s friends used their first aid skills to wrap his leg before they rushed to nearby Hamilton Island for assistance.
A CQ Rescue helicopter flew Mr Price back to the mainland, where he was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital for surgery.
He’s since received more than 60 stitches in his left leg and will be discharged later today to recover at home.
Mr Price, who works in the mines, joked to the Daily Mercury the shark was “just nibbling the back of my leg”.
Queensland Ambulance Service senior operational supervisor Julianne Ryalf said paramedics were called just after 6.30pm on Friday.
“QAS received a call for assistance from a vessel approximately 45 minutes offshore,” she said yesterday.
“He had been bitten by a shark to the left leg, thigh and shin; the lacerations were deep enough to require stitches.”
Ms Ryalf praised Mr Price’s friends, saying they “did excellently” to keep him healthy and alert.
“The patient was in really good condition … conscious, alert and in good condition,” she said.
QAS clinical support officer Peter Gleeson said Mr Price was “very lucky”.
“Any sort of shark bite is taken very seriously, and the results can be quite serious,” he told reporters over the weekend.
“However, in this instance, it seems like the patient was very lucky indeed.”
Mr Gleeson said shark attacks in the Whitsundays were extremely rare but reminded visitors to avoid swimming at dusk or dawn – when the risk is greater.
“It’s well known that shark bites and shark feeding time is commonly at that time of day,” he said.
“So to say it was a contributing factor in the attack is reasonable ... Shark attacks are an extremely rare occurrence.”
Mr Price was in good spirits after the attack, with paramedics describing him as “philosophical”.
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There has been a series of shark attacks in Queensland over the past two years.
In October 2019, two British backpackers were attacked off Hook Island by a shark, with one of them losing his foot.
Victorian doctor Daniel Christidis also lost his life to a shark attack in November 2018 after he was bitten at Cid Harbour in the Whitsundays.
