Whitsunday attack: distraught parents praise shark medicos

Melbourne schoolgirl Hannah Papps, 12, is in a battle for her life, her shocked father by her side, after a savage shark bite.

Attack victim Hannah Papps is transferred to a Royal Flying Doctor plane at Mackay Airport to be taken to Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Hannah Papps is a typical 12-year-old. She loves music, particularly her trumpet, is a promising soccer player and is a keen science ­student.

Yesterday she remained in a fight for her life, her father by her side as she was flown to Brisbane for further treatment for a savage shark bite.

The shocked parents of the Melbourne schoolgirl praised medical staff working to save their daughter as authorities moved to rid the popular Whitsunday anchorage of sharks that savaged her and Tasmanian Justine Barwick, 46. Queensland Fisheries will today inspect three drumlines dropped in Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island, after the pair were attacked within 24 hours of each other.

Just how close Ms Barwick, a mother of two, came to dying has been recounted by off-duty doctor John Hadok. He was standing on his trailer sailer, about to dive in, when two men ­approached in an inflatable tender seeking help for the severely ­injured Ms Barwick.

“When I arrived, they had ­already been able to control the bleeding from the very large wound on the back of her right thigh,” Dr Hadok said.

Medical staff move Hannah. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“She was clearly very unwell. She’d lost a vast amount of blood, and was very sleepy from the shock and blood loss.

“The big concern was she was so lacking in blood that to sit her up may have been catastrophic. We had to plan a way of getting her from the deck of the rather big yacht, down into the rubber dinghy at water level. We packed up the dinghy with boat cushions and, with the help of other bystanders, we were able to carefully lift her down and keep her as horizontal as possible.

“She was so shocked that she had no pulse, even though she was able to speak if spoken to.”

Several times she apologised, he said, and she also told him: “John, I’m frightened.”

From Hobart, Ms Barwick’s daughter, Sarah, last night said: “She’s a tough egg and I wouldn’t bet against her, she’ll get through this.”

Queensland Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said the drumlines would remain until “the area is sec­ure from any further attacks”.

“I hope for God’s sake that ­people adhere to our advice to stay out of the water,” Mr Furner told The Weekend Australian.

Mr Furner said it was difficult to identify the sharks involved, but the area was known for its tiger sharks.

Hannah Papps.

Ms Barwick was mauled late Wednesday afternoon after swimming from the yacht on which she was holidaying with family, with her husband and a local doctor credited with delivering lifesaving first-aid.

The next day, Hannah went swimming after lunch and was similarly attacked by a shark, which savaged her upper thigh ­before she was rescued by ­­para­medics and airlifted to the Mackay Hospital.

Last night, after she was airlifted to Brisbane’s children’s hospital, her distraught parents, Tracy Tulloch and David Papps, said Hannah was in a critical but stable condition.

“We would like to thank everyone who has helped and cared for Hannah, including the police, emergency services and the hos­pital teams,” they said.

“We ask that everyone, including the media, please respect our family’s privacy during this very difficult time so we can focus our energies on Hannah’s recovery.”

Just hours after a frantic rush by a yacht owner to find a medico to help the schoolgirl, holiday-makers were back swimming in Cid Harbour on Thursday. David Baddiley, sailing in the region’s pristine waters with his wife, Madelaine, on their 44-foot ketch Popeye, said limited communi­cations meant it took time for word to filter out about the twin maulings.

The couple arrived in the harbour at 4.30pm on Thursday, about three hours after Hannah was bitten on the upper leg.

“When I arrived, there were people still swimming,” Mr Baddiley said from the harbour, where his yacht was anchored yesterday. “There were boats on the radio getting the patrol to go over and tell them to get out.

“You don’t get any phone coverage where they were. ­People probably didn’t know what was going on unless they had their radios on.”

After the second attack took place, David Fadden, who was on a catamaran 500m away, said he was approached by a man in a dinghy travelling from boat to boat in the hope of finding a doctor who could help the girl.

 

It is unclear who the man was, but on closed sailing forums a woman who was near the Papps’ charter vessel said her husband had rushed to their dinghy after hearing of the attack.

The woman, Jan Parks, told other forum members that she was baking a cake when the call for help went out, with her husband grabbing first-aid equipment before rushing to their dinghy. Ms Parks declined to discuss the incident in detail, but confirmed they were anchored 100m from where the attack took place.

“Nothing much to say, only how good the response was by police, rescue helicopter, medic and all concerned,” she said.

Fisheries Queensland set three baited drumlines yesterday as a result of the attacks, as police boats patrolled Cid Harbour to warn tourists to stay out of the water.

Mackay-based Nationals MP George Christensen called for a “concerted effort to hunt” sharks, while Katter’s Australian Party state leader Robbie Katter warned that politicians opposed to culling risked “having blood on their hands”.

Cid Harbour, between Cid ­Island and Whitsunday Island, is one of the most popular natural safe havens for yachts in the ­region. There have been sightings of tiger sharks in the area in ­recent weeks.