woken up by a shark(someone screaming HELP!)
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:36 pm
My story is a little fresh.
Its Sunday afternoon and today has been a way outside the norm.
At about 6.30am this morning the missus told me to get out of bed because someone had been mauled by a shark and was screaming for help.
Now we live in dreamland(the property backs onto the start of a rocky point) so if someone is close to the rocks and starts screaming then we can hear them.
My first response to the missus was to tell her to get real, but she is pretty insistent when agitated and she ripped the covers off and threw me some shorts and a couple of fresh towels( to stem the blood flow) and said "No really! A young kids trying to drag himself up the beach. Get down and help him!"
So i wiped the sleep out my eyes, pulled on the shorts and bolted as fast as my creaky legs could carry me across the rocks. By the time i got to the kid, there about three others, his dad had been surfing with him and he had a make shift torniquet(leg rope) around the young blokes upper thigh and someones shirt was wrapped around his mid thigh.
My guts were churning as I looked at his exposed upper shin bone and another gash just above his ankle.
I am not sure what i actually did, but can remember tightening the towels around the shin area which was an ugly hole but not bleeding to profusely.
The clubbies arrived soon after in there little 4 wheeler and they had an oxygen therapy set up rigged up pretty quick, the dad who is also a clubby was pretty calm and was getting people to help where needed. The ambos took maybe 10 minutes to get there, but it seemed like it took for ever, pretty much stood around gawking and having a chat with the neighbours after that.
It turned into a circus soon after with TV trucks, TV helicopters, and rescue helicopters arriving.
I felt lie a bit of a goul retrieving my now bloody towels which the ambos discared once they had some dressings in place, spent some time washing the blood and gore off before the towels before the blood set and then went let the missus know that the guy looked like he would survive and keep his leg.
Pretty lucky considering its the third attack in the Sydney area in the last few weeks, and one of the others lost a few limbs.
Not suprisingly noone really paddled out for the rest of the morning and the beach has been almost deserted all day, bar the little clubbies(nippers) running around for a while this morning. It all seems a bit surreal now, and will be an interesting next few days as I look to get out for a wave some time soon.
Its Sunday afternoon and today has been a way outside the norm.
At about 6.30am this morning the missus told me to get out of bed because someone had been mauled by a shark and was screaming for help.
Now we live in dreamland(the property backs onto the start of a rocky point) so if someone is close to the rocks and starts screaming then we can hear them.
My first response to the missus was to tell her to get real, but she is pretty insistent when agitated and she ripped the covers off and threw me some shorts and a couple of fresh towels( to stem the blood flow) and said "No really! A young kids trying to drag himself up the beach. Get down and help him!"
So i wiped the sleep out my eyes, pulled on the shorts and bolted as fast as my creaky legs could carry me across the rocks. By the time i got to the kid, there about three others, his dad had been surfing with him and he had a make shift torniquet(leg rope) around the young blokes upper thigh and someones shirt was wrapped around his mid thigh.
My guts were churning as I looked at his exposed upper shin bone and another gash just above his ankle.
I am not sure what i actually did, but can remember tightening the towels around the shin area which was an ugly hole but not bleeding to profusely.
The clubbies arrived soon after in there little 4 wheeler and they had an oxygen therapy set up rigged up pretty quick, the dad who is also a clubby was pretty calm and was getting people to help where needed. The ambos took maybe 10 minutes to get there, but it seemed like it took for ever, pretty much stood around gawking and having a chat with the neighbours after that.
It turned into a circus soon after with TV trucks, TV helicopters, and rescue helicopters arriving.
I felt lie a bit of a goul retrieving my now bloody towels which the ambos discared once they had some dressings in place, spent some time washing the blood and gore off before the towels before the blood set and then went let the missus know that the guy looked like he would survive and keep his leg.
Pretty lucky considering its the third attack in the Sydney area in the last few weeks, and one of the others lost a few limbs.
Not suprisingly noone really paddled out for the rest of the morning and the beach has been almost deserted all day, bar the little clubbies(nippers) running around for a while this morning. It all seems a bit surreal now, and will be an interesting next few days as I look to get out for a wave some time soon.