Skip to main content

Shark bites off snorkeler’s foot in Australia

QUEENSLAND, Australia — Two British tourists were injured in a shark attack in northeastern Australia on Tuesday morning, with one losing his foot.

The two men, aged 22 and 28, were on a snorkeling tour boat near Airlie Beach in the state of Queensland, according to CNN affiliate 7 News.

The boat took the passengers to Hook Passage, a popular snorkeling spot just off the coast by the Whitsunday Islands, according to a statement from regional tourism organization Tourism Whitsundays.

The 22-year-old was attacked first, suffering lacerations on his lower leg, 7 News reported. The shark is believed to have then attacked the other man, biting off his foot.

The tourists had been “wrestling and thrashing about in the water in Hook Passage when the attack occurred,” according to the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, which coordinated the helicopter rescue.

There were two other passengers on board who were paramedics and provided immediate first aid, said Tourism Whitsundays.

The two men were airlifted to Mackay Hospital by helicopter, with one patient stable and the second “serious,” according to the Queensland Ambulance Service.

ZigZag Whitsundays, the tour group operator, said in a statement it was “saddened” by the incident. “Our thoughts are with them, their families and the other guests on the tour,” the statement said.

The statement added that the group had suspended its remaining tours for the day and “will work closely with authorities regarding our upcoming tours.”

The Whitsunday Islands have a history of shark attacks — a man died there last November, after he jumped into the water from his paddle board. Just months earlier, in September, two people were attacked by sharks in separate incidents in the same harbor within 24 hours, suffering injuries to their legs.

After the three attacks, state authorities caught and killed six sharks in the area. Steve O’Connell, a local inspector, told CNN last year that the three major attacks were an anomaly for the Whitsundays.


from fox5sandiego.com
Source: https://ift.tt/2pok1XN

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Virginia family gets keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the US

(CNN) — One Virginia family received the keys to their new  3D-printed home  in time for Christmas. The home is Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the nation,  according to a Habitat news release. Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, told CNN it partnered with Alquist, a 3D printing company, earlier this year to begin the process. The 1,200-square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full baths and was built from concrete. The technology allowed the home to be built in just 12 hours, which saves about four weeks of construction time for a typical home. April Stringfield purchased the home through the  Habitat Homebuyer Program . She will move in with her 13-year-old son just in time for the holidays. “My son and I are so thankful,” Stringfield said in a  live feed streamed on Habitat’s Facebook  page. “I always wanted to be a homeowner. It’s like a dream come true.” To purchase the home, Stringfiel...

Lawsuit: High school football player says coaches forced him to eat pizza as punishment, violating religious beliefs

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches. The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights. The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn’t. The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a  defamation case they filed  previously against the teen’s father, his a...

After court victories, Michael Jackson estate eyes revival

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Michael Jackson’s musical legacy never left, but a kind of comeback is coming. With a series of court victories that bring the end to serious legal crises, with a Broadway show beginning and a Cirque du Soleil show returning after a long pandemic pause, the Jackson business is on the upswing 12 years after the pop superstar’s death. Very recently, things looked grim. The 2019 HBO documentary “  Leaving Neverland  ” raised child molestation allegations anew. The once-dead lawsuits brought by the two men featured in it had been  revived  by changes in the law. And a decision in the estate’s appeal of a $700 million tax bill was taking years to arrive. “I was always optimistic,” John Branca, the entertainment attorney who worked with Jackson through many of his biggest triumphs and now serves as co-executor of his estate, told The Associated Press in an interview at his Beverly Hills home. “Michael inspired the planet and his music still ...