Tassie shark attack victim Justine Barwick leaves Brisbane hospital

UPDATED: TASMANIAN shark attack victim Justine Barwick will continue her recovery at the Royal Hobart Hospital after returning home from Queensland already able to walk on crutches.

Shark attack victim Justine Barwick has reportedly left the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and is back in Tasmania.

TASMANIAN shark attack victim Justine Barwick will continue her recovery at the Royal Hobart Hospital after returning home from Queensland already able to walk on crutches.

The 46-year-old Burnie mum reportedly landed in Hobart on a direct flight from Brisbane yesterday afternoon, just two and a half weeks after her right leg was mauled in a suspected tiger shark attack while she was swimming off a yacht at Cid Harbour in the Whitsundays.

She underwent a lifesaving operation in Mackay Hospital that night before being flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for a marathon 18-hour reconstructive surgery.

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Ms Barwick’s husband Craig yesterday said her friends and family were “amazed” by her ongoing recovery.

“Justine’s rehabilitation has reached a point where she is able to transfer from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to the Royal Hobart Hospital,” he said.

“We have achieved a number of rehabilitation milestones, but returning back to Tasmania is a significant one.

“Over the last five days Justine has progressed from walking ten metres on a frame with the assistance of the physiotherapist, to walking unaided on crutches.”

Ms Barwick thanked all the staff, nurses, allied health professionals, doctors and specialists who had contributed to the success of her recovery so far.

Seven News Brisbanefootage last night showed Ms Barwick getting up out of a bed with the assistance of two paramedics at Brisbane Airport.

She could then be seen holding the hand of a woman as she was taken inside the terminal in a wheelchair.

Ms Barwick was one of two people attacked by a shark near Cid Harbour, north of Hamilton Island, within 24 hours last month.

The other survivor, 12-year-old Melbourne girl Hannah Papps, remains in a stable condition in the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

Five tiger sharks and one black tip shark, measuring between 1.2 metres up to 3.7 metres, were hooked and killed by Fisheries Queensland following the attacks.

Their stomach contents and jaws were examined but no evidence proved they were the predators responsible.

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