Quick-thinking by witnesses of a shark attack on the New South Wales south coast has saved a man’s life, paramedics say.
The man suffered a serious injury to his thigh when he was attacked at Kiama, near Wollongong, on the north end of Bombo Beach about 7:15pm on Wednesday.
He is expected to have surgery on his leg.
Police said the 22-year-old Kiama Downs man was surfing at the time of the attack.
“Members of the public had put a tourniquet on his upper thigh, which in fact saved his life until emergency services arrived on the scene,” said Ambulance NSW Illawarra district Inspector Terry Morrow.
The ABC understands the man is well known in the community, lives close to Bombo Beach and works at a local surf shop.
The man suffered no damage to his major organs, but lost a large amount of tissue from his thigh and is expected to have surgery on his leg. He is not expected to lose the limb, the ABC understands.
“It’s taken out the whole thigh area of his left hand side of his leg, and that incorporates the artery that runs into the leg and to the quadricep muscle on his thigh,” Inspector Morrow said.
“He was in a significant amount of pain.”
A witness, Joel, said other surfers were in a different section of the beach when the attack occurred.
“[The man] remained conscious throughout the whole thing,” he said.
A police statement said the man told officers he was attacked about 100 metres offshore, but did not see the shark.
He was assisted to the beach by a friend.
Supervising lifeguard with Kiama Council, Andy Mole, said the ocean was still crowded with surfers when darkness fell, and this may have helped in saving the man’s life.
“There were a lot of people in the water,” he said.
“That’s really fortunate those guys were there.”
Police said the man was flown to St George Hospital in a serious condition.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said it was assisting NSW Surf Life Saving (SLS), NSW Police and emergency services in responding to the attack.
“A DPI shark biologist will assess photographs of the wounds to try to determine the species responsible for the attack,” she said.
“DPI continue to work with NSW Police and SLS to monitor the area and provide any technical advice and resources as required.”
The section of the beach where the man was attacked remained closed today.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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