Diver attacked by shark in Torres Strait

[FinnMom]

Wingy's post links to the most informative article I've seen.
One recent article calls the diver a dive boat skipper.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...t/news-story/17e1bfffa0aaa6306b663fa97a4f414b

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/c...t/news-story/5847d9fe2a8b421a8adfe93f736379f0

In general postings read:

A scuba diver mauled by a shark in the Torres Strait has suffered significant abdominal injuries, before travelling around four hours by boat to a medical centre.
Emergency services were notified of the 55-year-old man's mauling around 12.40pm (AEST) on Saturday.
The Queensland Ambulance Service's Far Northern Region operations centre supervisor Kirk Binnington told AAP the man lost a lot of blood from injuries in his arms, chest and stomach but was stabilised by a medically trained person on board.
The boat then travelled 65 nautical miles (120km) to Murray Island, which has a medical centre.
Binnington said the man is thought to be the skipper of the vessel.
A rescue helicopter attempted to assist but was hampered by bad weather, he said.
The man remains on Murray Island.
He is in a stable condition.

 

[Wingy]

Wow this is interesting - Shark Attack Data: Torres Strait, Australia while the peak attacks were in the early pearl and trochus shell diving days there have been a couple this century. Non fatal white tip reef in the young girls case yet a couple of incidents above a tiger shark is mentioned.

From a purely navigational viewpoint, it's not easy waters - it's shallow, temperamental, you have a flow through affect as in the Indonesian flow through because it's where the pacific and Arafura seas mingle - similar topography lots of small islands scattered allowing for some pretty fast currents at times. Also not a lot of shore based accomodation and the Torres Strait islander people keep their culture and kastom a lot like the people of Vanuatua.
While 'part' of Australia it's also the birthplace of Eddie Marbo who led the land rights movement (successfully).
There are also social problems up there which I can see would put any dive operator off let alone hardware and logistics for land based.
I had no idea there had been that many shark incidents up there - more than one diver on that list.
I guess you weigh up diving in waters known to have crocs and irikanjis v availability of medical attention...the scales tend to weigh on the not a good idea side. Really bad idea to go pearl diving apparently

 

[Dan]

I can imagine the shallow, fast current, remoteness and crocs will discourage any dive operator to do diving business there.

Salt water crocodile attack at Blue Water Mangroves - Conservation and the Environment

 

[WetPup]

I've dived up there. Was volunteering on a research vessel that was tagging dugongs. Certainly no commercial dive ops in the area that I am aware of.

It does have some good dive opportunities, however like Wingy implied, it really does seem the epicentre of "OMG, all the wildlife in Australia just wants to kill you". So I can see why nobody has bothered.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thanks for all the follow up info, gang. Interesting stuff.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I have dived in the Torres Strait, specifically on the wreck of the RMS Quetta which is located to the east of Cape York. It is shallow (less than 20 m) and raging tidal current flows, so you can only dive once every six hours or so. Visibility is also not usually good because of the currents, although on my dives we had pretty good. I certainly would not think of diving on reef here as the currents would make it too hard as no walls etc.

Interesting that it implies he was 120 km from Murray Island when attacked. That sounds like closer to PNG perhaps. I now suspect it may have been an illegal collector of trochus shell or sea cucumber.

 

[Wingy]

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/c...t/news-story/5847d9fe2a8b421a8adfe93f736379f0 FInn Moms link updated I believe.

A dive boat skipper (which boat? Why would anyone with any business sense even take a boat there? Or is that his day job ein PNG and if so, he would know the risks). If he is indeed a dive boat skipper living in PNG who decided to go freediving in Torres he may have been poaching something (trochus?) or just chewed too much betel. Very strange.

 

[WetPup]

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/c...t/news-story/5847d9fe2a8b421a8adfe93f736379f0 FInn Moms link updated I believe.

A dive boat skipper (which boat? Why would anyone with any business sense even take a boat there? Or is that his day job ein PNG and if so, he would know the risks). If he is indeed a dive boat skipper living in PNG who decided to go freediving in Torres he may have been poaching something (trochus?) or just chewed too much betel. Very strange.

I've read a number of reports it was a "large fishing boat", not a dive boat - they had dive capabilities on board, but it was a fishing boat.

 

[WetPup]

More detailed reporting from The Guardian here (bolding is mine):

A Cairns man endured a three-hour boat ride to a medical facility after being mauled by a bull shark while free-diving near the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland’s far north.

The 55-year-old man from Cairns was free-diving with a friend on a charter tour east of Murray Island in the Torres Strait on Saturday. Emergency services were notified of the attack around 12.40pm AEST.

David Cameron, a flight paramedic with Queensland Ambulance Service, treated the victim.

He said the pair had been free-diving at a depth of about 15m when a bull shark of approximately four metres in length came up behind the victim and bit him “several times” on his left arm and his stomach.

Despite “severe injuries” to his left arm, said Cameron, “he was able to swim up to safety and back onto the boat with no further damage”.

With torrential rain preventing the man being rescued by helicopter, he was taken by boat 54 nautical miles (120km) to the nearest medical facility on Murray Island; about a three-hour journey.

Some hours later, following a break in the bad weather, he was transported by helicopter to Thursday Island Hospital, where his wounds were assessed and he was kept overnight.

Cameron said the man would be be flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Cairns for further “micro-surgery” on Sunday afternoon.

He said the man was an experienced diver but nonetheless “very lucky”.

“When you start to talk about four-meter sharks up here in the Torres Strait, you’re very lucky to walk away. It sounds like the shark was on a bit of a mission.”

The patient told Cameron that it was the second time he’d been attacked by a shark while diving.

“Hopefully there’s not a third one.”

No scuba involved.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Apparently, he's an old hand at getting shark bit. Makes one wonder if he smells good to them or something strange like that.