Two teenagers from Australia were attacked by sharks in two separate incidents leading to the death of one while the other survived. Both attacks happened this week. On Thursday, a shark attacked and killed a 15-year-old boy at a remote surfing spot in South Australia.
On Monday, a shark bit a 16-year-old boy near southeastern Australia’s Taree. “I was sitting out the back, surfing, going over a wave and I just felt someone grab me,” Julian McLennan, 16, who was surfing at Old Bar was quoted as saying by 9News. Julian survived the attack but Khai Cowley, the 15-year-old boy bitten by a shark near Ethel Beach on the Yorke Peninsula, did not survive the attack.
“The shark was circling them as the guy pulled the boy out of the water. There was a lot of blood,” a resident, narrating the circumstances in which Khai was taken out of the water, was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
“We are devastated to learn that a young, talented and dearly loved member of our surfing community was the surfer involved in the attack at Ethel Beach,” Surfing South Australia said in a statement expressing solidarity with Khai.
Meanwhile, Julian McLennan, who had a close shave with death was bitten few centimetres from his femoral artery.
The femoral artery is crucial as a major blood vessel which supplies oxygenated blood to the lower parts of the human body and plays a key role in peripheral circulation.
“I look to the right and I see a massive fin coming out of the water and, like, its the body of a shark. I start paddling in. I have no clue if I have a leg still and I’m just looking at Alex, and I’m just freaking out,” Julian said. Alex Tobin was Julian’s other friend who was surfing with him and he immediately reached out and grabbed his shirt and stopped the bleeding.
Julian’s leg was punctured by deep tooth marks but he and his family were thankful to his quick-thinking friends. He also said he was lucky because the surfboard took most of the force of the bite.
There are no details on the sharks involved, but great white sharks are known to prowl South Australia’s coastline.
In late October, witnesses saw a shark grab a 55-year-old surfer in its jaws at the state’s Granites Beach. His body was not recovered. A large great white was seen nearby.
A 46-year-old teacher was attacked by a shark in May as he surfed at South Australia’s Walkers Rock Beach. His body was never found but search teams discovered a piece of wetsuit.
(with inputs from AFP)
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