Man drives car with shark biting leg
A MAN attacked by a small shark swam 300 metres, walked to his car and drove to a local surf club to get help while the shark was still attached to his leg.
| "Mate, c'n y'get this thing off me leg? An' I'll have one of those sudsers, please!" |
The wobbegong, or so-called carpet shark, attacked 22-year-old Luke Tresoglavic yesterday as he was snorkelling on a reef off Caves Beach, south of Newcastle. Mr Tresoglavic said today that when the 60 centimetre shark attacked him, he "instantly grabbed hold of it with both hands as hard as I could to stop it shaking. I just realised I had to swim in like that, hanging on to it. Once I got on to shore, a couple of people tried to help me but I could not remove it, it was stuck there. So I got up into my car and then drove to the clubhouse and luckily the guys down there had a clue what to do."
| "Here! Pour some beer on it! That always works!" |
Senior lifeguard Michael Jones could hardly believe his eyes when Mr Tresoglavic turned up. "The first we knew of it was a bloke lobbed up here at the lifeguard tower with a shark attached to his leg," Mr Jones said. "He basically asked the question, ’Can you help me get it off?’ – there’s nothing in our procedure manual for that type of thing. It latched on and wouldn’t let go, it was thrashing around and he’s lucky he didn’t get into difficulties in the water trying to swim with that thing thrashing around."
| "Here, little wobbegong! Don't be thrashin' about like that! Henry, hand me that claw hammer, wouldja?" |
With the help of another lifeguard, all three men took hold of the shark and attempted to flush its gills with fresh water to make it loosen its grip on Mr Tresoglavic’s leg. "I grabbed the tail and one jaw, Luke grabbed the other jaw and my partner, the other beach inspector, flushed it with water and we were able to get it off without creating too much more tissue damage," Mr Jones said.
"This fresh water isn't workin'! Gimme the Foster's!"
"Hey! I wuz drinkin' that!" |
With blood oozing from 70 needle-like punctures in his leg, Mr Tresoglavic drove to hospital, taking the dead shark with him.
| "Yes, Mr. Tresoglavic, you're going to be fine. But I have bad news for you: your fish died." |
Mr Jones said Mr Tresoglavic remained in good spirits throughout the ordeal. "There was a side of humour to it," he said.
| "Though I don't think it was quite so funny at the time..." |
The last shark sighting at the beach was seven years ago, although it is common for them to linger around the reef flushed with fish. Wobbegong sharks can grow up to three metres in length, have razor-like teeth and are said to be moody and short-tempered. |