Man dies after attacked by shark at Cid Harbour in north Queensland
A MAN killed in the third shark attack in the same Whitsundays harbour in two months has been revealed as a Melbourne trainee urologist.
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A MAN killed in the third shark attack in the same Whitsundays harbour in two months has been revealed as a Melbourne trainee urologist.
Daniel Christidis has spoken at international medical conferences, including a recent event in South Korea. He has dozens of published research papers in his specialist field. He was based at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.
Rescuers described the “gruesome” and “bloody” scene that confronted them as they arrived to find two of Dr Christidis’ travelling companions – also doctors – frantically trying to save his life.
The 33-year-old was one of 10 medical professionals on board a 40ft yacht on what should have been a five-day sailing holiday around the Whitsunday islands.
Instead, on the first night of their travels, while anchored in Cid Harbour, a shark attacked after Dr Christidis jumped from a stand-up paddle board he was sharing with a woman from the yacht.
Meanwhile, Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick, who was attacked by a shark in Cid Harbour in September, said she was shocked to hear of yesterday’s news of a third incident.
“I feel devastated for the family and friends of this young man, I know that he would have received the best of care available from the Queensland Health Service, including RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter crew and my heart goes out to all involved,” she said.
“This is a terrible tragedy.”
Her condolences came as the Queensland Government is resisting calls to install drum lines in Cid Harbour following a fatal shark attack yesterday, the third attack in the same area in two months.
A 33-year-old Victorian man, who was on a charter boat with friends, was swimming in Cid Harbour about 5.30pm when he was attacked, not far from where a woman and a schoolgirl were mauled in separate incidents on September 19 and 20.
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Tourism Minister Kate Jones today said local advice was that drum lines were not wanted.
Instead a concerted effort will be made to ensure tourists are made aware of the risks.
“At this stage we are taking the advice of the locals on ground and both the council and Tourism Whitsundays advise that they’d prefer not to have drum lines,” Ms Jones said.
“They are making this case because they don’t want to give a false sense of security to tourists that the whole of the Whitsundays would safe.
“What we are hearing very clearly from the experts at DPI (the Department of Primary Industries), the people that are experts in this field is that they don’t think that (drum lines) is a long term solution for the Whitsundays.
“We need to be mindful that this is the habitat and we need to make sure that when we are swimming in their habitat that we are mindful of the risks.”
Water police and other authorities will conduct patrols of Cid Harbour after yesterday’s fatal shark attack.
The man was travelling with a group of friends and colleagues from the medical industry, including at least two doctors, on a group holiday.
He received immediate first aid, but died as a result of his significant injuries.
“(There were) at least two doctors on board who were able to render immediate first aid ... but his injuries and the reaction to those injuries were so severe that unfortunately he has not survived not long after his arrival in Mackay Base Hospital,” Patrol Inspector Steve O’Connell told media this morning.
Police say the incident happened when the man and a woman were taking turns on a paddle board. The man was attacked when he got off the board.
Inspector O’Connell said the friends, who remained on Hamilton Island on Tuesday were “extremely distraught” and “going through a hell of a time”.
He said the man had gone into cardiac arrest by the time the rescue helicopter arrived at the scene, and lengthy efforts were made to perform CPR.
“Every solid effort was made to save that man’s life,” he said.
The 10 friends, including the man, had left Airlie Beach on a five-day bareboat yacht charter on a 40ft sailing boat, stopping first at Cid Harbour.
Police have spoken with the man’s father in Victoria and are expected to speak to speak with him more today.
Authorities are now urging the community to stay out of the water.
Patrol Inspector O’Connell said water police have spoken to all 16 of the boat owners and operators currently anchored in Cid Harbour, and are expecting more to arrive this afternoon.
The type of shark involved is yet to be identified.
The group involved in the attack hired a vessel from Cumberland Charter Yachts, the company confirmed this morning.
General manger Sharon McNally said all staff were “shocked an saddened” by what had transpired.
“On behalf of everyone at Cumberland Charter Yachts, I offer my deepest sympathies to the man’s family and friends at this tragic time.” she said.
“Members of staff from CCY were involved in the response. I am grateful for the remarkable and rapid actions of the crew on board, the medical unit from the RACQ Rescue Helicopter, other emergency services and members of the public who worked to try and save the man’s life.
“We continue to remind all boat operators and their guests not to swim at dawn or dusk, not to swim in murky water and not to swim in Cid Harbour at any time,” she said.
The victim of yesterday’s attack suffered a bite to his left thigh, right calf and “a defensive wound” to his left wrist.
He was flown to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition.
A rescue helicopter was called to the scene just before nightfall, landing on the foreshore of Whitsunday Island to assist.
The on-board paramedic was taken to a nearby boat where the injured man was being treated.
RACQ CQ Rescue crewman Ben McCauley, who also attended both September attacks, said they arrived at the yacht about three minutes after disembarking the aircraft and described the scene and the man’s injuries as “absolutely horrific”.
“He’d suffered very serious bites, significant blood loss as well as cardiac arrest and when we arrived he was already being treated by a paramedic from Hamilton Island, two off-duty doctors and an emergency department nurse from other nearby vessels.”
In less than 45 minutes, the critically ill man was resuscitated twice and transferred by tender back to shore, accompanied by the paramedic and rescue crewman.
He was loaded into the waiting helicopter and flown to Mackay Base Hospital arriving in a critical condition about 8pm.
Mr McCauley said there were about 20 boats in Cid Harbour at the time.
He described the third shark attack he’d attended in less than two months as “just totally unbelievable” and “the worst one yet”.
The fatal attack follows the two critical incidents in September, which prompted authorities to deploy baited drum lines in the harbour in the days that followed.
Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick, 46, was attacked as she swam in Cid Harbour on September 19.
Her upper inner thigh was savaged in the attack, with a bite puncturing her artery.
The mother-of-two had 18 hours of surgery to save her leg, and in early October returned to Tasmania to continue her recovery.
A day after the attack on Ms Barwick, young Melbourne schoolgirl Hannah Papps, 12, was mauled when swimming in shallow water in the same area.
It was last month revealed Ms Papps lost her left leg, despite undergoing several rounds of surgery. She has since been discharged from hospital.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which covers 344,000sq km, is home to about 88 species of sharks.
At the time of the September attacks, experts said it was almost impossible to identify what exactly caused them to attack but they urged swimmers to take sensible precautions.
Queensland Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause, speaking after the incidents involving Ms Barwick and Ms Papps, described the attacks as “unprecedented”.
They prompted the Government to install drumlines in Cid Harbour to reduce the number of dangerous sharks in the area.
Six tiger sharks were caught on the drumlines.
“While shark control equipment does not provide an impenetrable barrier between swimmers and sharks, it is effective in reducing the overall number of sharks in the area, making it a safer place to swim,” Mr Krause said at the time.
Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan last night called for drumlines to be permanently set in popular spots in the Whitsundays.
“We need drumlines and nets off our popular swimming beaches in the Whitsundays like most other populated centres up and down the Queensland coast,” he said.
“It’s about time we had the same levels of protections as other places.”
After the September attacks, Mr Krause reminded swimmers they should not be in the water alone and should leave the water immediately a shark was sighted.
Additional reporting Chris Clarke & Cas Garvey
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