Shark attack: Man bitten during surf at Windang
A well-known Illawarra surfer is looking at possible surgery, after he was attacked by a shark during an early morning surf south of Wollongong.
Illawarra Star
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A veteran Illawarra surfer is expected to undergo surgery on his foot, after he was attacked by a shark south of Wollongong this morning.
Sixty-year-old Will Schroeter was out surfing at his usual spot at Windang Beach early on Friday morning, when fellow surfer Paul Coombes heard him screaming.
“I was about 60 metres or so away from him and I could hear him yell out,” Mr Coombes said.
He knew something serious had happened however, when he saw Mr Schroeter quickly paddling to shore.
“I paddled in, ran up the beach and could see a big bite on his foot,” Mr Coombes said.
Realising he’d been attacked by a shark, Mr Coombes tied a tourniquet made of leg ropes around Mr Schroeter’s left foot and called for help, helping lifeguards transport him to the Windang Surf Club while they waited for paramedics.
While Mr Coombes said Mr Schroeter “was okay” after the attack, NSW Ambulance Chief Inspector Terry Morrow said by the time paramedics arrived, he’d gone into a state of shock.
“He was shocked because he could see the wound and that’s a pretty frightening situation,” he said.
Inspector Morrow said he believed the shark was of a smaller size due to the nature of the bite.
“[He had] a bite mark on the top arch of his foot and underneath his foot that has involved some ligament damage,” he said.
“And [the shark’s] teeth have gone into the bone joint in the ankle.”
Paramedics worked to control the bleeding and bandaged Mr Schroeter’s injured foot before taking him to Wollongong Hospital for treatment, which Inspector Morrow would include exploratory surgery to ensure his ligaments and ankle bone were okay.
Inspector Morrow said the surfer was lucky the shark wasn’t a little bigger, fearing that if it were, Mr Schroeter would have lost his foot.
The beach was closed by Wollongong City Council shortly after the attack, as a Department of Primary Industries chopper and jetski searched for the shark responsible for the attack.
Council’s beach services operational manager Paul Dreghorn said while shark attacks haven’t historically occurred at Windang Beach, the nearby river opening had been known to attract the animals.
“I believe it probably does attract sharks especially with the rain water coming out at the moment,” he said.
“I guess the message is surf with friends and it’s probably not the greatest to surf in the early morning on cloudy days like today.”
Mr Dreghorn said the type of shark responsible for the attack had not yet been identified, and that the beach would be closed until further notice.