Two men in their 30s have suffered serious lower limb injuries after a shark attack off the north Queensland coast at 10:22am today.
The attack is reported to have happened between Hook Island and Whitsunday Island, in what’s known as Hook Passage. This is only 11km from the location of the attack in November 2018 that killed Melbourne man Daniel Christidis and injured two others, including a 12-year-old girl.
The victims of today’s attack were on a day tour in the Whitsundays when the attack occurred. They were taken by boat to Abell Point Marina, where they were then transported by road to meet a rescue helicopter that airlifted them to Mackay Base Hospital.
#RACQ #CQRescue arriving at Mackay Base Hospital at 12.40pm with two patients on board after a Shark attack in the Whitsundays. pic.twitter.com/UJy46tYEIi
— RACQ CQ Rescue (@cq_rescue) October 29, 2019
Reports are that the injuries are serious, including bad lacerations to one of the men’s feet.
A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson told the Herald Sun:
The male patients are back on land now. One patient’s stable and the other they’re still assessing. They’re both conscious and breathing.
The area in which the attack took place is not part of Queensland’s shark control program, and lifesavers have blamed a surge in shark sightings and beach closures on the removal of shark control measures at a further 27 beaches in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Shark control measures such as baited drum lines have been instrumental in preventing shark attack deaths in Queensland – there’s been only one fatal shark attack at a protected Queensland beach since 1962, a huge drop from the 36 prior recorded cases.
However, a number of people have suffered serious injury from shark attacks in the Whitsundays in recent months, including several who nearly bled to death from leg wounds.
