Woman in serious condition after shark attack off Whitsunday Island
LATEST: THE condition of a Tasmanian woman attacked by a shark in the Whitsundays has stabilised overnight after she was flown from Mackay Base Hospital to Royal Brisbane last night.
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LATEST: THE condition of a Tasmanian woman attacked by a shark in the Whitsundays has stabilised overnight.
Justine Barwick, 46, of Burnie, was in a stable condition this morning at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, which the hospital said had improved from critical late on Thursday.
The mother-of-two was mauled by a shark while swimming near a yacht at Cid Harbour off Whitsunday Island’s Sawmill Bay about 5pm on Wednesday.
She suffered a life-threatening bite to her upper right leg and was flown to Mackay Base Hospital before being moved to Royal Brisbane last night.
RACQ Central Queensland Rescue crewman Ben McCauley said Ms Barwick had been “bleeding profusely” aboard the 36-foot boat before he arrived.
It was the first of two attacks at the same location in less than 24 hours — with a 12-year-old girl bitten on the leg on Thursday.
Queensland authorities yesterday swooped on the Whitsundays to try to prevent any further attacks at Cid Harbour, with baits deployed to save swimmers and kill predatory sharks.
UPDATED: AN off-duty emergency doctor who rushed to help a Tasmanian woman attacked by a shark in the Whitsundays has spoken of her courage and composure.
Dr John Hadok was holidaying on a nearby boat when the call for help came late on Wednesday afternoon after Justine Barwick, of Burnie, was mauled by a shark in front of her husband Craig and some friends.
It was the first of two attacks at the same location in less than 24 hours — with a 12-year-old girl bitten on the leg on Thursday.
Dr Hadok, who specialises in pre-hospital emergency care, was alerted to the attack on Ms Barwick, 46, by people from another boat at Cid Harbour, which is north of Hamilton Island.
She had been swimming near her yacht.
“When I arrived she was out of the water and had already received lifesaving first aid to control the bleeding,” Dr Hadok told the Mercury.
“It was immediately clear to me that Justine had been severely injured.
“Her blood pressure was so low I couldn’t even feel her pulse, but she was able to say a few words.
“She was aware she was in a terrible situation and frightened but never hysterical.”
Dr Hadok said his main role in the rescue mission was to help with moving Ms Barwick from the yacht to an inflatable dingy so she could be winched into the helicopter.
“It was essential she remained horizontal during the transfer so she didn’t lose any more blood,” he said.
“Restricted by the lack of an open deck and the yacht’s high mast, it took the pilot quite a while to find somewhere safe to hover but Justine’s husband and best friends were calm, in control and able to co-operate.”
RACQ Central Queensland Rescue crewman Ben McCauley said Ms Barwick had been “bleeding profusely” aboard the 36-foot boat before he arrived.
“The shark had taken a huge chunk out of her inside leg and she was bleeding out,” Mr McCauley said.
“The people on scene who got her aboard that yacht and quickly packed the gaping wound to help stem the haemorrhaging undoubtedly saved her life.
“The patient was sort of in and out of consciousness, we gave her some pain relief so she didn’t really have too much to say.”
Ms Barwick, a mother of two adult daughters, remained in a critical condition on Thursday night and was flown from Mackay to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The operations manager at Family Based Care Association North West has been described by her boss as a “fighter”.
“Justine was on leave with her husband and friends enjoying time on their family yacht as part of an annual trip to the Whitsundays,” Family Based Care Tasmania CEO Douglass Doherty said.
“She is an avid snorkeller and enjoys these times away with family and friends.
“Justine is a fighter — a fit resilient woman who is an outstanding leader in the aged and disability care sectors. These intrinsic attributes will serve her well in her recovery.”
The 12-year-old girl was bitten on the leg near the groin while swimming at Cid Harbour with her dad and sister about 1.45pm on Thursday.
After receiving close to 1.5 litres of blood, the girl was rushed into the operating theatre at Mackay Base Hospital for lifesaving surgery. There was no suggestion that she would lose a limb.
Queensland’s Agriculture and Fisheries Department will look to bait sharks in the Cid Harbour area on Friday in a bid to reduce the possibility of any further attacks.
Three drumlines with baited hooks will be deployed around the region.
A Queensland Boating and Fisheries patrol vessel was also sent out to the site yesterday afternoon to stop people from swimming.
EARLIER: PARAMEDICS are treating a 12-year-old girl in a serious condition with a significant leg injury after she was bitten by a shark at Cid Harbour this afternoon.
A rescue helicopter was dispatched to the area, off the coast of Airlie Beach near Hamilton Island, about 1.45pm.
Queensland Ambulance Service said the child was conscious and being treated for a serious upper-leg injury, with a critical-care paramedic on the scene.
The girl remains in a serious condition and was transported to Mackay Hospital by helicopter about 3.20pm.
The attack happened at Sawmill Bay, near yesterday’s terrifying attack.
EARLIER: A TASMANIAN mum attacked by a shark in the Whitsundays is described as a fighter who loves snorkelling and spending time with her family.
Justine Barwick, 46, was swimming near a yacht at Cid Harbour off Whitsunday Island’s Sawmill Bay about 5pm on Wednesday when she was mauled by a shark, suffering a life-threatening bite to her upper right leg.
Ms Barwick, of Burnie, works as an operations manager at Family Based Care Association North West. She’s also on the board of Flourish, a not-for-profit organisation established to provide a strong voice for people with a lived-experience of mental illness in Tasmania.
Family Based Care Tasmania CEO Douglass Doherty told the Mercury Ms Barwick, a mother of two adult daughters, was on an annual trip to the Whitsundays at the time of the attack.
“I am able to confirm that our Operations Manager Justine Barwick, has been hospitalised as a result of a shark attack that took place at approximately 5pm yesterday in the Whitsunday Passage,” he said.
“Justine was on leave with her husband and friends enjoying time on their family yacht as part of an annual trip to the Whitsundays. She is an avid snorkeller and enjoys these times away with family and friends.
“At this time Justine is in a critical but stable condition. Justine is a fighter — a fit resilient woman who is an outstanding leader in the aged and disability care sectors. These intrinsic attributes will serve her well in her recovery.”
Dr John Hadok from Mackay Base Hospital just happened to be on a nearby boat when Ms Barwick was attacked.
MAMMOTH SHARKS CAUGHT NEAR QUEENSLAND TOURIST BEACHES
“Fortunately he was able to assist in immediate treatment of the patient and to stabilise the serious haemorrhage that she had,” Mackay local ambulance service network operations manager Tracey Eastwick, said.
Ms Barwick was then winched onto the CQ rescue helicopter with a “significant shark bite to her right thigh and a smaller wound to her right lower leg”.
She had “altered levels of consciousness and significant amount of pain”, Ms Eastwick said.
It was lucky the CQ rescue helicopter was already close by when it got the call for help, giving Ms Barwick the best shot of survival.
SHARK BITES HOLE IN MAN’S KAYAK
However, it did mean the chopper was short on fuel, forcing a landing at Proserpine airfield to re-fuel as medical crews worked to stabilise the Ms Barwick’s condition.
She was reportedly “conscious but critical” when she was moved from Proserpine to Mackay Base Hospital, arriving just after 8pm, Ms Eastwick said.
Mackay Base Hospital last night confirmed Ms Barwick was in a critical condition after losing a significant amount of blood in the attack.
An RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman earlier said the people Ms Barwick was with displayed heroism before the rescue crew arrived.
“There was a doctor on scene, but apparently the people that she’d been with that have got her on to the boat and have packed her wounds to stop the haemorrhaging are the ones who really saved her life,” she said.
“By all accounts it was very serious and without the rescue helicopter she probably would have died, but those people did save her life by stopping the haemorrhaging.”
The Whitsunday Islands are a popular tourist destination.
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are protected by shark drumlines, but last year a group of Sydney greenies started legal action to remove shark controls from the area.
Fisheries Queensland Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause said the drumlines had helped keep swimmers safe from Gladstone to Cairns.
“Shark-control equipment does not provide an impenetrable barrier between swimmers and sharks,’’ Mr Krause said.
“(But) it is effective in reducing the overall number of sharks in the area, making it a safer place to swim. Human safety must come first.”
Tasmanian man Damian Johnson, 46, was killed by a great white shark while diving for scallops with his daughter between Maria and Lachland islands on July 25, 2015.
Timeline of fatal Australian shark attacks since 2008:
17 April 2017: 17-year-old Laeticia Maree Brouwer is surfing with her father at Wylie Bay, a few kilometres from Esperance, WA, when she was attacked by a shark, most likely a great white shark. Laeticia later died from her injuries in hospital.
31 May 2016: Ben Gerring, 29, from Mandurah south of Perth in Western Australia, is attacked by a great white shark at a popular surf spot called Gearies. He died in a Perth hospital four days later.
25 July 2015: Tasmanian man Damian Johnson, 46, is killed by a great white shark while diving for scallops with his daughter, between Maria and Lachland islands.
9 February 2015: Japanese national Tadashi Nakahara, 41, is killed at Shelly Beach, at Ballina, in northern NSW. A local surf shop employee, he was believed to be taken by a great white shark while he was out surfing.
29 December 2014: Jay Muscat, is killed at Chaeynes Beach, east of Albany in Western Australia.
15 December 2014: Daniel Smith, 18, of Mossman, is killed while fishing at Rudder Reef, off the coast of Port Douglas.
9 September 2014: Paul Wilcox, 50, is found floating and is unable to be resuscitated after being pulled from the water near Clarkes Beach at Byron Bay. Witnesses saw a 3m great white in the area immediately after the attack.
3 April 2014: Christine Armstrong, 63 is taken by a suspected bronze whaler shark as she lagged behind her daily swimming group at Tathra Beach, NSW.
8 February 2014: High school English teacher and experienced diver Sam Kellet, 28, is killed by a suspected great white shark while he was spear fishing near Edithburgh, SA.
29 November 2013: Zac Young, 19, dies from cardiac arrest after being attacked by a shark while bodyboarding with friends near Riecks Point north of Coffs Harbour in NSW.
23 November 2013: Chris Boyd, 35, is attacked by a shark, believed to be a great white, while surfing at the popular surf break Umbries off Gracetown in WA.
14 July 2012: Ben Linden, 24, is killed while surfing near Wedge Island, WA, 180km north of Perth. A witness who tried to help said the shark swam away with the body.
31 March 2012: Peter Kurmann, 33, is taken in southwestern WA while diving in the Port Geographe Marina. His brother, who was diving with him, tried to fight off the shark with a knife.
22 October 2011: American tourist George Thomas Wainwright, 32, sustains horrific injuries and dies while scuba diving off Rottnest Island.
10 October 2011: Bryn Martin, 64, disappears at Cottesloe Beach and is presumed a shark attack victim. Only his damaged Speedos were found.
4 September 2011: Kyle Burden, 21, is taken by a shark while bodyboarding with friends at Bunker Bay, near Dunsborough, WA.
17 February 2011: An abalone diver is taken in an attack by two sharks, believed to be great whites, while surfacing near Perforated Island in Coffin Bay, SA.
17 August 2010: A 31-year-old man dies from serious injuries after being attacked by a shark while surfing near Gracetown in WA’s southwest.
27 December 2008: Fisherman Brian Guest, 51, is taken by a great white while snorkelling at Port Kennedy in Perth’s south. His son and beachgoers saw the shark attack and swim off with him in its mouth.
8 April 2008: A 16-year-old boy from Wollongbar is killed by a shark while bodyboarding off Ballina’s Lighthouse Beach on the NSW north coast.
— Source: Australian Geographic
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