A woman in her 50s has become Australia’s latest shark attack victim after being mauled off the coast of Mackay in central Queensland. The woman was snorkelling before a shark bit into her leg, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service. She then made it back to her boat which was 200km from the coast.
Miraculously, the Royal Australian Navy managed to rescue her after an emergency call was made. At 4.27pm on Wednesday, Queensland Ambulance Service was notified a woman received multiple cuts to her lower leg while exploring the open water 10 hours from the coast by boat.
HMAS Warramunga diverted from its path while performing training exercises in the Whitsundays region to pick up the woman, according to the ABC. Navy medics applied a tourniquet and transported her back to land, arriving in Mackay Harbor about 12.30am on Thursday.
Paramedics waited for the woman onshore. Mackay Hospital treated the woman for her injuries and is in a stable condition. It is not known what kind of shark species attacked the woman.
In September, surfer Kai McKenzie, 23, was surfing at North Shore Beach in Port Macquarie on the New South Wales Mid North Coast in July when he was mauled by a 4.5 metre great white shark . He miraculously managed to catch a wave and paddle back to the shore where an off-duty policeman rushed to his aid, reportedly wrapping his leg with a tourniquet fashioned out of a dog lead.
In December last year, surfer Khai Cowley, 15, was tragically killed at Ethel Beach o.