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29 March 2024

Surfer attacked by shark in Australia

Published
By AFP

A surfer suffered arm and face injuries after being attacked by a shark on the New South Wales coast north of Sydney - the second person to be mauled in the region within a week.

Dave Pearson, 48, was surfing at Crowdy Head, 265 kilometres north of Sydney, at dusk on Wednesday evening when the shark bit through his board and into his left upper forearm.
“I was sitting at home when one of the surfers with him came and got me,” Crowdy Beach Surf Life Saving caretaker Adam Eady told ABC radio.
“I got the first aid kit and thankfully the surfers there got him out of the water and had wrapped his arm in a towel with a tourniquet to stem the blood, because there was a lot of it squirting out.
“It was a really deep laceration on his forearm. A lot of damage there.”
The attack came just days after Lisa Mondy, 24, was targeted by a shark at Nelson Bay, further south, while wakeboarding.
Mondy suffered serious injuries to her upper left arm and neck.
Eady said he had lived all his life in Crowdy Head and had never heard of a shark attack before.
“There’s a lot of bait fish around at the moment, with recent rain seeing them get flushed out of rivers early,” he said.
“I think the shark would have followed them up the beach and because it was dusk, it mistook the surfer for food.”
Reports said it was likely a bull shark, while the Nelson Bay incident was a great white.
Pearson’s partner Debbie later told the Sydney Daily Telegraph website that he was out of surgery.
“It went well and he retained his arm and is resting comfortably with his family by his side,” she said.
“Dave said it was all so quick, he hardly remembers what happened, but he’s in good spirits about it all, which is the main thing.”
Sharks are common in Australia but fatal attacks are rare, with only 53 deaths in the last half-century, according to the Australian Shark Attack File.