Tucson
Delta
Anmeldungsdatum: 19.11.2004
Beiträge: 102
Wohnort: Tucson Arizona
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 Verfasst am: 13.12.2004, 03:05 Titel: Shark kills fisherman in Queensland |
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3127098a12,00.html
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13 December 2004
By MARK TODD
In two starkly different outcomes for fishermen in Queensland waters, a NSW man survived 35 hours drifting 100 kilometres on a bamboo pole while another was killed by a shark while spearfishing on the Great Barrier Reef.
Authorities will today decide whether to hunt the shark that killed the 38-year-old Clifton Beach man who, Cairns police said, was pulled screaming from the water amid a "cloud of blood" by two friends. The three were on a spearfishing expedition early on Saturday afternoon at Opal Reef, about 50 nautical kilometres north-east of Port Douglas.
Meanwhile, a Tweed Heads fisherman, Dave Richardson, clutched a five-metre bamboo pole as he was swept south along the coast until he was rescued by another fisherman who thought he was a turtle.
Mr Richardson's trawler, Star Mist 2, had abruptly overturned just after midnight on Friday off Moreton Island, taking about three minutes to sink. His father George, 68, is missing, presumed drowned.
The 36-year-old survivor, who came close to other boats several times as they passed him in the darkness, is expected to make a full recovery from sunburn, exposure and dehydration.
A Currumbin recreational fisherman, Steve Hickman, was fast trawling for mahi mahi and marlin about 11.30am on Sunday when he spotted what he thought was a turtle directly ahead. "I seen his fingers. I thought maybe it was a loggerhead turtle. You don't get used to seeing humans floating out there," he recalled.
"Geez, I'm glad to see you," were the first words from the exhausted trawlerman.
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"I bet you are," Mr Hickman replied.
Mr Richardson had wrapped his legs and arms wrapped around the pole. "He rode the thing for close to 40 hours. I don't know how it kept him afloat," said Mr Hickman. "He was destined to be picked up and it was today, and it was by me."
Experts and locals in Cairns believe the shark that killed the spear fisherman may be a large whaler or tiger shark, which are common on the reef.
The man was swimming about 60 metres from a private game fishing boat when the shark struck. He suffered a severed artery from bites to his left thigh and died soon after from blood loss.
Police said the man's two friends on the boat heard him screaming and saw that he was "vertical" in the water. A Queensland Rescue Service helicopter dropped paramedics on the boat, but they were too late.
"On arrival on the boat the man unfortunately was in cardiac arrest and we weren't able do anything further for him at that time," a paramedic, Leon Oliveri, told Channel Ten.
Police expected to release the man's name yesterday, but are withholding details at the request of his wife, who is yet to inform all relatives. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter.
"The family is so devastated they can't think straight," a police spokesman said.
- with AAP
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BTW: this happens regularly in Australia as the continent is completely surrounded by sharks. |
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