Marine Life Diver's head bitten by great white - Australia

[DandyDon]

This is a terrible thing that happened to this person. Keeping that foremost in mind,

Exactly. A lovely young lady was severely injured with traumatic injuries to her face, having to have some of her own teeth removed if that news story is correct. I wouldn't joke about it.

 

[Brett Hatch]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Folks, this thread is in the Accidents and Incidents forum, which enjoys special rules. Please keep in mind that the injured person or her friends and family might read this thread, and let's avoid making jokes at her expense. Thanks.

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[pauldw]

Exactly. A lovely young lady was severely injured with traumatic injuries to her face, having to have some of her own teeth removed if that news story is correct. I wouldn't joke about it.

I think that perhaps you don't know what a joke is.

 

[Catito]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Folks, this thread is in the Accidents and Incidents forum, which enjoys special rules. Please keep in mind that the injured person or her friends and family might read this thread, and let's avoid making jokes at her expense. Thanks.

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I re-read. Did not find a joke. I hope she recovers and feels the support of the dive community.

 

[Brett Hatch]

I re-read. Did not find a joke. I hope she recovers and feels the support of the dive community.

I deleted 2 or 3 posts along these lines. I hope she recovers too, inshallah

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Exactly. A lovely young lady was severely injured with traumatic injuries to her face, having to have some of her own teeth removed if that news story is correct. I wouldn't joke about it.

Was this her own teeth or the shark's teeth? Read literally, the story could be either.

But I'd have said "teeth removed from her jaw" if it was her teeth. I got the impression sharks teeth were embedded in her head.

 

[Shawn C]

"O'Shannessy was rushed to Flinders Medical Centre to have two surgeries to remove the teeth from her skull."

"The teeth" and not "her teeth" strongly implies shark's teeth. And skull vs jaw does likewise.

What a terrible thing and a miracle that she survived a head first bite.

 

[John the Pom]

I may be wrong, but I get the impression that the global SCUBA diving community is reluctant to believe that unprovoked shark attacks occur or come about as the result of "mistaken identity". Great whites are not uncommon in this part of the world, especially in Western Australia and South Australia and they do attack and sometimes eat humans. You don't have to be spearfishing to become a victim and SCUBA divers aren't necessarily safe. Do I believe they are actively out to hunt us swimming monkeys? No I don't, but it's not unreasonable to be cautious.

My (purely anecdotal as opposed to scientific) observation is that sharks are wary of OC SCUBA divers underwater.

I've been on dives where I was using OC but another diver was using CCR, and I've seen sharks reacting completely differently - very reluctant to let me get near, but completely relaxed and curious around the CCR diver.

Similarly, I've dived the same fairly shallow reef on OC scuba and free diving. On OC, only lazy bottom-dwelling sharks; free diving, we saw several small whaler sharks that came to investigate.

On the surface it is a different story. Having half-a-dozen divers floating on a mermaid line queueing to get back on the boat, we were often buzzed by bronze whaler sharks. And the poor guy who was attacked in Sydney in 2022, that shark appeared very much to be feeding.

 

[MB NZ]

My (purely anecdotal as opposed to scientific) observation is that sharks are wary of OC SCUBA divers underwater.

I've been on dives where I was using OC but another diver was using CCR, and I've seen sharks reacting completely differently - very reluctant to let me get near, but completely relaxed and curious around the CCR diver.

Similarly, I've dived the same fairly shallow reef on OC scuba and free diving. On OC, only lazy bottom-dwelling sharks; free diving, we saw several small whaler sharks that came to investigate.

On the surface it is a different story. Having half-a-dozen divers floating on a mermaid line queueing to get back on the boat, we were often buzzed by bronze whaler sharks. And the poor guy who was attacked in Sydney in 2022, that shark appeared very much to be feeding.

Yes, SCUBA is almost a guaranteed way not to see sharks. Carry a camera as well and you reduce your risk by half again

I've seen one bronze whaler in NZ on SCUBA, yet I've seen many when freediving/spearfishing and I do a lot more SCUBA.

But, SCUBA does not make you invincible, ask the abalone divers.

https://www.sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/2016.06.05.a-Collyer.pdf

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

Was this her own teeth or the shark's teeth? Read literally, the story could be either.

But I'd have said "teeth removed from her jaw" if it was her teeth. I got the impression sharks teeth were embedded in her head.

I feel like you may be putting way too much faith in the chosen wording of the reporting... (Caveat to preceding statement is I have no knowledge of the actual facts of that case, but given multiple newsworthy factual events that I do have factual knowledge on I would personally not assume the news report is accurate to begin with, let alone accurate on nuances like "the jaw" vs "her jaw.").
Hopefully her family and friends (and diving community in general) can be there for her through what is likely to be a pretty long recovery...